KERROW: "Somalis are not guests in Kenya. They own the largest region in the country. Check the history. They arrived in Kenya [in] 2000 BC. Don't try to bully us. No vetting!"

104 #deported from #USA landed in Amritsar which has resulted in #Punjab government constituting a fact-finding committee of four members headed by an ADGP Rank officer to investigate #illegal #migration from Punjab. It will act as a SIT with the capacity to include any other police officer if need be. Out of 104 Indians deported 30 are from Punjab. In the past, when a plane with illegal emigrants returned from France a similar SIT was in place. But the common understanding is that nothing of significance came out of it. Punjab state has an Act namely “The Punjab Prevention of #Human #Smuggling Act 2012” in place. As per this act, a DSP is an investigating officer supervised by an SP rank officer with SSP as the Nodal officer. Even the power of search lies with the DSP. Apart from the sketchy design of the act, there is also no provision for such a SIT. Our state act 2012 is less stringent than the punishments of existing major acts like IPC / BNS. Besides cheating and fraud, there will be cases of forgeries involved. It also appears that some sections of the said state Act are ultra vires while others are cut and copy-paste of the “Emigration Act of 1983 enacted by the Government of India. The Emigration Act of 1983 has two years of punishment for cheating while IPC/BNS punishment ranges from 3 years to 7 years. However, the Central Government Act of 1983 mainly deals with recruitment by foreign employers and certification of recruitment agents. In case of murder, an SI or Inspector can investigate and in case of stringent NDPS Act 1985, the ASI can investigate. The provision of DSP as an investigating officer in the aforementioned State Act reduces the choices a victim has, making it less victim-friendly and favourable to the offender. In the case of SIT, the poor victims get further harassed as they have to travel long distances to meet the SIT. On the contrary, the offender travel agents are rich and resourceful enough to travel comfortably. To effectively deal with offenders it is suggested that in the present case of the 30 deported, the concerned SHO of the police station nearest to the victim’s residence may be asked to send an IO to the house of each person and take a simple application which indicates the commission of cognizable offences including mentioning of the names of the travel agent involved. All these cases should be registered under the provisions of the BNS Act. 30 FIRs should be registered so that victims simply approach their local police station to provide material evidence and witnesses while letting travel agents travel to each police station and bear the brunt of their criminal offences. Additionally, victims should be granted immunity from prosecution. It is also important to involve professional counsellors for counselling of the deported persons as they would have gone through several traumatic events, making them vulnerable to mental health issues. Receiving them at the airport without access to any mental health intervention will further increase intergenerational trauma. Lastly, the state Government must set up a Victim relief fund to support the affected persons in their recovery from the Financial trauma. The state government can recover the funds from the offenders after following due process of law. @BhagwantMann @DGPPunjabPolice @CsPunjab @AAPbalbir