Let not even one offender escape punishment and one innocent get punished
The title “Immoral Traffic - Prostitution in India” would no doubt be a handy treatise for the guardians of law and morals. It will help them rise up to the occasion in tackling the problem of trafficking and prostitution, which had led to the rise and spread of HIV/AIDS. Case laws quoted with reference to the topic would be a major source of reference material for the officials charged with the enforcement and Government servants dealing with the subject. The title is a scholarly attempt at a very appropriate time when the scourge of HIV/AIDS is catching up as wildfire capable of affecting the economic future of the country.
The law enforcer, the law graduate, the humanist, the social researcher and the scholar in Mr.V. Sithannan are awake, and the result is the comprehensive, yet concise book on “Immoral Traffic - Prostitution in India”. The case studies and judgements provided in this book would be very helpful to the legal and judicial fraternity. The medical details would help the NGOs who work for the upliftment of those afflicted with HIV/AIDS. This book can serve as a useful guide even for educationists and students of social and women studies and researchers.
Changing mores and globalisation have all affected the institution in more ways than one. I congratulate Tr. Sithannan for having come out with his scholarly work on “Immoral Traffic”. The book discusses the issue in detail in its entire dimension and lays bare to the reader the complexities of the problem. The entire gamut of factors - the origin of the institution, the legal framework, investigation, the plight of victims, human rights and modern-day perspective - have been dissected and detailed. Tr. Sithannan is that rare combination of a dedicated Police Officer and Scholar. He deserves all the praise for his masterly contribution to police literature.
There is a welcome trend discerned in the recent past of police officers becoming researchers and book writers on socially sensitive subjects like human rights, gender justice and humanitarian law. However, one regrets to find that the average policeman in India is as uncivil as ever when he deals with the weaker sections of society. The National Police Commission long ago acknowledged the malaise and sought to correct it by asking for a series of reforms both in law and practice of police administration. It goes to the credit of officers like V. Sithannan of the Tamil Nadu Police who try to make a difference in police behaviour vis-à-vis women and children despite institutional constraints and policy uncertainties. The book on immoral traffic well written and nicely produced is indeed “an eye-opener to guardians of Law and Morals” as claimed in the title page itself. A victim orientation in judicial proceedings is the need of the hour. And this is the function of both law and the attitude of the enforcers of the law as correctly perceived by the author. I congratulate Mr V. Sithannan for his scholarly effort and wish him a satisfying career both in policing and in scholarly writing.
To be frank, I took this book most reluctantly. The subject is dry - discussing in an unsavoury statute, and rules and rulings completely masking the inhumanity of man to women on the specious plea that the policeman and courts are saving the community from the perils of dark sin. The irony is, I put this book down most reluctantly! Bernard Shaw defending “Mrs Warren’s Profession” has not bettered Sithannan’s work under review. The author has vast experience as a practising policeman interrupted by a fruitful pedagogic spell. He is primarily a social scientist with a sensitive heart and a felicitous pen, or one may say an ‘oxymoron’. Sithannan has produced a remarkable book that is so useful, exceedingly readable and just un-putdownable.
Part law, part sociology, this voluminous tome is essentially a law enforcer’s view of the oldest profession in the world and how society reacts to it. V. Sithannan, a serving police officer in Chennai, uses his experience in the Crime, Law and Order and Intelligence wings of the city police and Vigilance department, to hold forth on what, from a rights perspective, is referred to as ‘commercial sex work’. Being a lawyer by qualification, he lays on thick Acts, laws, government orders relevant to the issue. No doubt of great use not only to law enforcers but a lesson, in more ways than one, to even activists working in the area. The book comes at a time when a humanitarian, victim’s perspective is trying to edge into law enforcement too. The rights, rescue and rehabilitation of the victims, commercial sex workers, are no doubt a key part of the enforcement of the ITP Act. At such a time, this book lends more grist to the mill of the activists, this time, policemen-activists.
I congratulate Thiru V. Sithannan for writing this extremely useful book – “Police Investigation – Powers, Tactics and Techniques” which would be a handy guide for all law enforcement officers. I also commend this work as a reference book for all Police Officers, Advocates, Judicial Officers, General Libraries, Departmental Libraries, the NGOs and Social Activists.
A trainee and a veteran equally will find this book “Police Investigation – Powers, Tactics and Techniques” a useful aid. To cite an example, under chapter 14, “Arrest”, he has cited 37 landmark judgements. By reading these fourteen pages alone, one can avert many a pitfall. I commend the mammoth effort by Mr Sithannan.
With Thiru Sithannan’s book ‘Police Investigation-Powers, Tactics and Techniques’, every Police Officer will be able to do a comprehensive investigation even if he/ she just follows the checklists given. The book is written in simple language, which can be easily understood by all Police Officers and will serve as a valuable tool/guide for every officer who has to investigate a crime, participate in the All India Police Duty Meet etc. This is a more exhaustive treatise than his initial one, prepared when he was working in the Police Training College and which is still used by IOs all over the state.
With Thiru Sithannan’s book ‘Police Investigation-Powers, Tactics and Techniques’, every Police Officer will be able to do a comprehensive investigation even if he/ she just follows the checklists given. The book is written in simple language, which can be easily understood by all Police Officers and will serve as a valuable tool/guide for every officer who has to investigate a crime, participate in the All India Police Duty Meet etc. This is a more exhaustive treatise than his initial one, prepared when he was working in the Police Training College and which is still used by IOs all over the state.
The treatise “Police Investigation: Powers, Tactics and Techniques”, authored by Thiru. V. Sithannan, is a masterly work, adorning the grand architecture of Law and its Enforcement. The treatise begins with a discourse on the birth of the institutions of Military and Police and then takes us into a varied and scholarly journey into the minute details of the nature of crime, its investigation by Police officers, and further processes to be taken by Police officers till the judgement is pronounced, and the accused is either punished or exonerated, if he is found innocent. Even though the book deals in detail with ‘Crime and Punishment’, yet the profound humanity of the author Thiru. V. Sithannan manifests itself throughout the pages of the book as the invisible human face of a socially concerned Police officer in investigating the crime.
Apart from the training given to the Sub-Inspectors of Police at the Police Training College, very few get an opportunity to undergo specialised training in Investigation during the next 35 years of their career. This book ‘Police Investigation-Powers, Tactics and Techniques’, which is comprehensive and copious with references, is really a boon to an investigating officer. Care has been taken to include recent social legislation in the book. A number of landmark Supreme Court judgements have been cited. Statistics have also been provided wherever relevant to place certain issues in perspective. The powers of the police officers derived from various Acts and Rules have been clearly delineated. The author comes out with flying colours when he dissects actual investigational skills and procedures. It is an excellent treatise in police procedurals.
“தொண்ணூற்று ஒன்பது குற்றவாளிகள், தண்டனையிலிருந்து தப்பிக்கலாம்; ஆனால், ஒரு நிரபராதிகூட தண்டிக்கப்படலாகாது” இது ஒரு பழைய மொழி
“ஒரு குற்றவாளிகூட தண்டனையிலிருந்து தப்பிக்கலாகாது; ஒரு நிரபராதிகூட தண்டிக்கப்படலாகாது” ©
இதுதான் இன்றிலிருந்து புதுமொழிவீ. சித்தண்ணன்