New Delhi– A police officer can detain a person who resists or disregards lawful directions to prevent a cognisable offence, according to the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) which came into effect on Monday.
The BNSS, which replaced the British-era Code of Criminal Procedure, has introduced “a new insertion” as Clause 172 in ‘Preventive Action of the Police’.
It states that people must conform to directions of the police issued in the course of preventing the commission of a cognizable offence, officials said.
The provision allows a police officer to detain such person and produce them before a magistrate or, in petty cases, release the person as soon as possible within 24 hours, they said.
Under the BNSS, police officials have been given a layer of immunity in cases of dereliction in carrying out duties on the orders of an executive magistrate to disperse unlawful assembly.
In such cases, police officers cannot be prosecuted without the sanction of the government.
Under clause 58 of the BNSS, police personnel can now produce an arrestee before any magistrate within 24 hours even if the judicial officer does not have jurisdiction, officials said.
A provision has also been made under Clause 53 that a medical practitioner conducting an examination of an arrested person can conduct one more medical exam if the practitioner deems it fit, the officials said.
To misuse arrest provisions by the police, an additional obligation has been cast on the state governments under BNSS clause 37/B to designate a police officer who would be responsible for maintaining information about all arrests and arrestees.
The information will have to be prominently displayed in every police station and at district headquarters.
The new criminal law also makes it mandatory for a police officer to get permission from an officer ranked Deputy Superintendent of Police or above in case of offences punishable with imprisonment below three years and the accused being infirm or above 60 years of age.
Information related to an arrest can now be furnished to “any other person” apart from the present arrangement of “relative or a friend”.
“The category of persons who could be informed regarding the arrest of an arrestee has been expanded to include ‘any other person’, apart from the existing provisions related to informing any relative or a friend,” an official said.
Clause 48/3 of BNSS makes it mandatory that an entry of the fact as to who has been informed of the arrest shall be made in a book to be kept in the police station in such form as the state government may provide.
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