Jaipur: Police find law weak to book bajri offenders

JAIPUR: The mining mafia is brazenly defying Supreme Court ban by excavating bajri from riverbeds, yet Rajasthan police shy away from slapping stringent charges on mafiosi to put a leash on the flourishing trade.
As per criminal law, the accused involved in excavating and smuggling of barji could be booked for theft under Section 378 of IPC, but a close examination of Rajasthan police’s mining cases reveals the probe is confined only to the seizure of the vehicle under the Motor Vehicles (MV) Act.
In January this year, probation RPS officer Mukul Joshi in Chittorgarh had filed an FIR against a tractor driver under Section 378 (theft) for transporting bajri. “After mining department confirmed that barji was illegally mined, we proceeded with our FIR which led to serious drop in bajri cases in Chittorgarh district,” he said. However, these cases are far and few between, in the state. An official informed TOI that the police must deal a mighty blow to the mafia which is only possible if underlings are sent to jail.
SHO investigating the mining case informed TOI that for the mining gangs, their drivers and bajri are equally important for the trade. “The mafia doesn’t want their minors spilling beans on the syndicate’s operations. Therefore, they always send escort vehicles to trail trucks. They fear that if a person is arrested, he will reveal the exact spot from where sand was excavated and places where it stockpiled,” the official told TOI.