RAMBAN, OCT 5: District Police Ramban has ended a 33-year-long evasion of the law with the arrest of an absconder who had been on the run since 1993, marking a significant breakthrough in the district’s ongoing crackdown on proclaimed offenders and persons wanted in long-pending criminal cases.
The accused, identified as Mohd. Rafiq, son of Mohd. Hussain, resident of Khoz Tangdar, Tehsil Karnah, District Kupwara, was apprehended from Lakhanpur by a police team led by ASI Ravinder Kumar Sharma of Police Station Ramban. His arrest relates to FIR No. 14/1993 under Sections 366 and 34 RPC and FIR No. 118/2008 under Sections 376, 366 and 109 RPC, both registered at Police Station Ramban.
According to police, the accused had remained beyond the reach of the investigating and judicial process for more than three decades. The prolonged pendency of the cases had led to the issuance of warrants against him by the competent courts. A warrant under Section 335 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), corresponding to Section 512 of the erstwhile CrPC, had been issued by the Principal District & Sessions Judge, Ramban, as well as the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Ramban.
Following his apprehension, police completed the requisite legal formalities and produced the accused before the Principal District & Sessions Judge, Ramban, for further proceedings in accordance with law.
The arrest assumes significance as District Police Ramban continues to intensify its efforts to trace and apprehend absconders and proclaimed offenders who have remained unavailable for years, reinforcing the principle that prolonged evasion cannot indefinitely shield an accused from judicial scrutiny.
District Police Ramban said its efforts to identify, trace and bring such long-pending accused before the competent courts would continue as part of its sustained drive to strengthen the enforcement of law and ensure the effective execution of judicial warrants.
