Mumbai Police registers 12 FIRs under three new criminal laws

An unknown cyber fraudster was booked under the BNS for duping a pav bhaji vendor. Representation pic

The city police registered 12 FIRs till 5 pm on Monday when the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (BSA) came into effect. Although marathon meetings and training sessions were conducted to familiarise officers with the new laws, minor mistakes were observed in a few cases. Officials say it will take a few days to get accustomed to the changes, as many sections of now-defunct laws have been modified. From top officers to constables, all ranks have been trained in the new system.

The BNS, BNSS and BSA replace the Indian Penal Code, 1870 (IPC); Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973; (CrPC) and Indian Evidence Act,1872 (IEA) respectively. The new laws were passed in Parliament on December 21, 2023. The BNS has 358 sections as opposed to the IPCS's 511.

"We have provided exhaustive training to most police officers on the new criminal laws. Training material related to the three new Acts has been provided to all regional and zonal offices," said Satyanarayan Chaudhary, joint commissioner of police (law and order).

The Bombay High Court. Lawyers have been assiduously studying the new laws. File pic/Shadab Khan

"All police stations are updated as to the appropriate amendments and provisions mandated by new criminal laws. Also, comparative charts of old and new Acts have been provided for ready reference. Programmes at each police station were organised on Monday to inform common people from various sections of society on key features of the new criminal laws and provisions of offences against women and children under new laws." Chaudhary added.

First case

The first case was registered at the DB Marg police station at 2.28 am on July 1. It pertains to cyber fraud, where a pav bhaji seller at Girgaon Chowpatty was deceived by an unknown person impersonating an officer from a financial institution. The case has been filed against the unknown person under Sections 318 (4) (cheating) and 319 (2) (cheating by personation) of the BNS, along with provisions of the Information Technology Act 66(C) and 66(D). Previously, cheating cases were registered under the famous Section 420 of the IPC, and cheating by personation under Section 416.

The NCRB's Sankalan app

According to the FIR, the complainant, Dilip Subhedar Singh, 36, stated that on the night of June 25, around 10.30 pm, he was scrolling through his Facebook account and came across a page named Chachasal Samvad. In need of a loan, Singh clicked on the ‘Chachasal' app linked on the page and filled in the required information, including his name, mobile number, and loan amount. Singh fell into the trap and, to secure a loan of Rs 5 lakh, he was asked to make various payments under the guise of taxes and procedural fees and he ended up paying more than Rs 73,000. Realising he had been duped, Singh filed a complaint with the DB Marg police.

A minor error was also noticed in the FIR. The DB Marg police were supposed to register the case under Section 173 (information in cognisable cases) of the BNSS but mistakenly mentioned Section 154 of the CrPC, under which FIRs were previously registered.

Another case

In a case registered at the airport police station under BNS Sections 118 (voluntarily causing hurt or grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means, 115 (voluntarily causing hurt), 352 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace), 351 (criminal intimidation), 3 (common intention), corresponding to Sections 324, 323, 504, 506 and 34 of the IPC.

Meanwhile, the Navghar police mistakenly registered an FIR under IPC Sections 325 (punishment for voluntarily causing grievous hurt), 34 and 504 against an accused, instead of 117(2), 117(3) 117(4) of the BNS. According to sources, it was likely a system error. Officers at Navghar police station were not unavailable for comment.

The Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems which the police force has been using across India, was modified on July 1 after the decolonisation of the IPC. Though the cops in Maharashtra have undergone massive training at state, district, zone as well as police station level to make error-free execution of a new set of criminal laws, a few cops are facing challenges during the transition period. But with the intervention of senior officials, the confusion is being eliminated.

Helpful app

The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) has developed an application which most of the police officers, lawyers and people dealing with the laws have downloaded.

Asked what challenges officers at the police station level are facing before registering an FIR under BNS, 2023, the commissioner of Mira Bhayandar Vasai Virar (MBVV) police Madhukar Pandey said, "Elaborate training arrangements have been made here, each and every officer and constable dealing with registration of crime and investigation has been trained about the new laws."

"There is an app developed by NCRB called Sankalan which is available on both Android and iOS. This app is very user-friendly and elaborately describes deletions, additions and modifications in a colour-coded manner and also has a chart of old and new sections. Plus, there is a national-level helpline for police officers, which has also been circulated to our officers. So overall, we are all set for the transition," Pandey told mid-day. The first FIR was registered under the BNS in the Mira Bhayandar Vasai Virar (MBVV) police's jurisdiction against a mobile thief under Section 305 at the Manikpur police station on July 1.

The inspector at Manikpur police station Raju Mane said, "This is a transition period for all of us. So, we have been taking the help of a new law book so that there are no errors while registering FIRs. We took all measures to make the first FIR's copy error-free." The cops at Vasai police station were seen turning the pages of the new law book while others were looking at the NCRB app.

2.28 AM
Time first case was registered under BNS on July 1

July 1
Day new laws came into effect

Changes

Cheating: Covered under Section 318 of the BNS as opposed to 420 of IPC
Murder: Covered under Section 103 of the BNS as opposed to 302 of IPC
Rape: Earlier under IPC Section 376, it is covered under Section 63 of BNS
Gang rape: Previously under IPC Section 376D, the offence is now covered under BNS Section 70 (1)
Cruelty against a married woman: Previously under IPC Section 498A, the offence is covered under Section 85 of the BNS
Dowry death: Previously Section 304B in the IPC, the offence is now covered under BNS Section 80
Sexual harassment: Previously under IPC Section 354A, the offence is now covered under Section 75 of the BNS
Outraging the modesty of a woman: Previously under Section 354 in the IPC, the offence is now covered under Section 74 of the BNS
Criminal intimidation: Previously Section 503 in the IPC, it is now covered under Section 351 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita