As the Union government prepares to roll out the three new criminal laws, first in the Union Territories, the Delhi Police have charted an exhaustive training schedule for those responsible for investigations.
To begin with, around 8,800 personnel, particularly field officers and those posted at police stations, will get training till March 30 so that they become well versed in the new laws.
Chhaya Sharma, Special Commissioner of Police (Training), said the aim was to complete the training for all investigating officials in the next six months. The Delhi Police have a strength of around 80,000 personnel.
Booklets describing the laws in simple language will be distributed to the officials and at the end of the training session, they will be assessed through a written test. If the official is unable to clear the paper, he or she will have to repeat the sessions. After the completion of the training, the 8,800 officials will have to attend a refresher course.
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Ms. Sharma, who was specially chosen to lead the training division as it involves making officials proficient with the three criminal laws, said the booklet will include step-by-step process on what should be done when a crime takes place. “We will have to train the officials in video-graphing and geotagging the crime scenes also. Since BNSS [Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita] mandates audio-video recording of all search and seizure, the officials will have to not only record the video but also explain the surroundings as was being done through maps and papers earlier,” Ms. Sharma said.
Ms. Sharma said they have consciously included operators who handle the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS) as the entire focus is on digitisation of the criminal law procedure. “We will also train the record keepers of the police station and the maalkhanas (evidence room) in-charge as they will be the custodians of the case property,” the officer added.
Delhi Police Commissioner Sanjay Arora inaugurated the training session on Wednesday. The Hindu attended one of the training sessions.
The Delhi Police have engaged Neeraj Tiwari, Assistant Professor, National Law University (NLU), to familiarise the officials with the laws. Mr. Tiwari worked closely with the Union Home Ministry to draft the three laws — The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) that replaces the Indian Penal Code, 1860; the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (BSA)that replaces the Indian Evidence Act, 1872; and the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) that replaces the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898.
The three laws were notified in the Gazette of India on December 25. The government is yet to announce the dates when the laws would be implemented.
Mr. Tiwari explained various features of the BNS to the police officials during a training session at the Delhi Police headquarters on Wednesday. He asserted that the BNS does not merely change the order in which crime sections are mentioned but in the initial days while the case is being tried in court, the lawyer will have to mention both the old and the new sections.
A police official sought to know if they have quasi judicial powers in petty offences, while another wanted to know whether undertrial prisoners whose character antecedents are not sound are also eligible for default bail if they have served one-third of the prison sentence, as mandated under the new law.
Mr. Tiwari responded that it will be the responsibility of the jail official to apply for “statutory” bail for first-time undertrials and since it is not a regular bail as their cases drag on due to the failure of the system, such conditions will not apply.
The government is now looking at the phased implementation of the three criminal laws as building the necessary infrastructure and training of police officials across the country may take more time. The law mandates mandatory visit of forensic experts in all crimes punishable with seven years imprisonment or more.
For example, the punishment for motor vehicle thefts has been enhanced to seven years under the BNS. Delhi, on an average, records 30,000 such thefts annually. “This will require 30,000 mandatory visits by forensic experts. The availability of such experts will also have to be increased,” said the official.
