Implementing new criminal laws proving to be an uphill task in rural U.P., say police
To register their first case under the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS), the newly implemented criminal law, officers at Rehra police station in Uttar Pradesh struggled through the night just to download the set of documents that stipulate how the law is to be put to practical use.
The dilapidated police station, located in a remote village a short distance from Amroha, was the first in the State to file a case under the new law on July 1. The FIR was registered under Section 106 (causing death by negligence) of the BNS — earlier Section 304 of the now-scrapped Indian Penal Code — after 48-year-old Jagpal Singh was electrocuted by a stray wire while working in the fields.
“Our staff toiled the whole night just to figure out how to download the booklet and print it in order to register the first case. We managed it, but we don’t know how we will be able to file the next few cases,” said the inspector in charge of the police station, which is located smack dab in the middle of an open field dotted with deep puddles. Outside, muddy roads lead to sugarcane fields, where most of the villagers earn their living by farming through the kharif season.
He added that ever since the new criminal laws — the BNS, the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam — replaced the old ones — the Indian Penal Code, 1860, the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, and the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 — training officers to implement them in a technologically-challenged terrain is proving to be a fairly monumental task.
“During training, we were told that the CCTNS (Crime and Criminal Tracking Network & Systems) software would prove to be of help, but to access it, we require mobile data or Wi-Fi, which is hard to come by,” he said.
The inspector at Rehra police station said implementing the new criminal laws in a technologically-challenged terrain is proving to be a fairly monumental task.
| Photo Credit:
SHASHI SHEKHAR KASHYAP
According to an officer who wished not to be named, most policemen in the rural belt don’t even possess functional mobile phones and will be unable to record video evidence, which is a must under the new laws. While Additional Director General (Training and Headquarters) Sunil Kumar Gupta said U.P. Police is in the process of procuring new equipment including tablets, mobile phones and cameras, the officer said that to train officers to use these “fancy new devices” will be another uphill task.
Unforeseen barriers
Rakesh Kumar Mishra, SP (Crime) Bulandshahr, said that curiously, in rural U.P., locals don’t know what murder, rape or cheating is, but only know the crime by sections of the now-scrapped colonial era laws.
“They often come into the police station shouting ‘Aaj teen sau do hua hai (Today, IPC Section 302 — murder — has taken place)‘ or ‘Voh chaar sau bees kar gaya (He committed IPC Section 420 — cheating)‘,” he said, adding that Bollywood action movies, which often utilise section numbers, have only added to the trend.
While nothing has really changed in how law will be meted out, it will take time to acquaint the locals with new section numbers, admitted Mr. Mishra, who is also the nodal officer in charge of training personnel in implementing the laws in Bulandshahr district.
Another looming problem is the scarcity of forensic teams, whose presence has been made mandatory at major crime scenes under the new laws. “As of now, each district has a forensic team, and we are expecting more to be inducted. But if there is a crime in a far-off area in the district, it will be tough for the team to reach. All the while, we will have to ensure that there is no unauthorised entry onto the crime scene while simultaneously focusing on electronic evidence collection,” said an officer.
Adapting to the new system, though, has been easier for some. At Bareilly’s Baradari police station, an inspector-level officer said they didn’t face too many challenges. “A child was reported missing from a hospital earlier this month, so we quickly scanned the CCTNS portal to understand what sections of the BNS would be taken into consideration. After we recovered the child, we recorded a video of the whole process and even electronically recorded the child’s statement. We are expecting the police mobile application to be launched soon, too, and that will make things even simpler,” he said.
Ongoing training
A plan to train officers was formulated after the laws were notified in December last year, said Mr. Gupta. “The police found 700 trainers from the State police academy, and on March 6, we began teaching our officers the new laws. We followed the top-down approach, so all IPS officers were trained first. Professors from National Law University in Lucknow, Amity University and Lucknow University also conducted several sessions,” he said.
Subsequently, over 5,000 inspectors who weren’t posted at police stations were trained. “Then, we trained station house officers and station officers. Since there was mounting work before the general election, we had to considerably speed up the whole process, but we also managed to train 1,600 sub inspector-level cops and 37,000 investigating officers in complete physical mode. We also trained police station staff who register FIRs and look after office work, including head constables, constables and munshis, as well as 10,000 beat head constables. So far, we’ve trained one lakh officers, but the process is still not complete,” said Mr. Gupta.
He added that refresher courses will also be introduced in different batches. “We will keep calling all personnel for regular training. It is going to be difficult, but short assessment tests will help officers stay updated. In a police force, we are expected to be ready, and we will be,” he said.
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