CrPC amendments: MHA asks law panel to suggest way out

Strong protests by lawyers,who are opposed to one of the amendments on the ground that it gives discretionary powers to police not to arrest a person involved in an offence having maximum sentence of seven years,has forced the MHA to do a rethink on whether or not to notify the amendments.

The amendment,which does away with the mandatory arrest provisions in offences punishable with a prison term of up to seven years,would translate into no arrests being made in cognizable offences such as molestation,dowry harassment and robbery attempt.

As per the amendments,police have to issue a ‘Notice of Appearance’ to the accused,asking him/her to join investigations. In case the accused fails to do so,he/she can be arrested. At the same time,in case police decide to arrest the accused without issuing him a notice,they have to record their reasons for doing so.

Sources in the MHA said one reason for this amendment was that every year lakhs of innocent people are arrested without any basis. Even the third report of the National Police Commission had said that about 60 per cent of the arrests in the country were unnecessary and unjustified.

Another amendment bestows upon victim of a crime right to file an appeal against a court order acquitting the accused or convicting the accused for a lesser offence.

The amendments,which were passed by Parliament last year,received the President’s assent on January 7 and were published in the gazette two days later. However,the MHA has not notified them so far.

Women groups have opposed the amendments on the ground that since most crimes against women are punishable by jail terms less than seven years,including offences under the Protection of Domestic Violence Act,police wouldn’t arrest accused husbands and in-laws.

“We are going to hold discussions with all stakeholders,including senior officers of the MHA,Bar Council of India and NGOs,to understand the issues. We will make our suggestions at the earliest,” said a senior functionary at the Law Commission.

The officer said the first meeting is being held later this month.

Sources in the MHA said Home Minister P Chidambaram had already indicated that the government was open to any suggestion to re-amend the CrPC to make it more acceptable.