By SHUBHAJIT Chakraborty

Bihar, Feb. 05 – In a curious case of surveillance, Jamui police have brought an extraordinary functioning when they introduced the Jan Adhyaksh system in 13 of the 14 police stations under the sphere of common man.

“The Jan Adhyaksh is expected to spend 24 hours at the police station and observe how police react to complaints and cases lodged there. They are also expected to observe how the law enforcers treat common people at a police station and whether they had been courteous like offering a chair to them,” said Jamui superintendent of police Rakesh Rathi.

A Jan Adhyaksh member need to be a resident of the area under the concerned police station and at least reach 15 years of his/her life. Another important eligibility is he or she must not be any criminal charges. The applications have been sought by the local people to be member of Jan Adhyaksh. Incidentally, a person can be privileged to be a member for one day only.

“We have already got enough applications to select Jan Adhyaksh for every police station for the next three days,” Rathi said, adding that a Jan Adhyaksh is supposed to fill up a form at the police station, recording his or her observations.

“These forms will be sent to us for evaluation and we will take steps to overcome the shortcomings in the functioning of police stations,” Rathi said, stressing that he was still awaiting the forms of the first batch of Jan Adhyaksh. “This is the first time this system has been introduced anywhere in the state,” the SP said.

There are reports of police atrocities in the state and in general lodging a simple FIR can be a frightening experience. Human right groups expressed their satisfaction by the system and stressed on vigilante justice because of poor image of the police in state.