GUWAHATI, March 12 � Free movement of wrongdoers in Assam would make effective policing during the ensuing Lok Sabha polls a difficult task, with 8,884 non-bailable warrants pending execution in the State till date. At a time when questions are being raised on the recurring incidents of failure of public order across the State, such a heavy backlog of non-bailable warrants might end up complementing poll-related violence.
It is widely believed that such antisocial elements are used in poll-related violence by political parties as a show of muscle power.
Police also concede that many of these wanted persons enjoy political patronage in one way or the other.
Among all the districts, Cachar tops the list with 863 pending NBWs, followed by Dhubri and Guwahati with 654 and 567 pending NBWs respectively. Darrang, with 522 pending NBWs, is not too far behind.
Baksa, meanwhile, has the lowest number of pending NBWs in the entire State.
Tinsukia, Sonitpur, Nagaon, Kokrajhar and Jorhat are the other districts where more than 400 NBWs are still to be executed.
Sources told this reporter that the backlog of NBWs goes to show the level of accountability in the police department.
�The NBWs are being executed on a priority basis. But one will have to admit that acute manpower shortage is one of the primary reasons for such a heavy backlog. Policemen, in many cases, hardly get time to track the accused as they are mostly engaged in law-and-order duty,� the sources said.
