POLICE REGULATIONS, BENGAL. PART 10

324. (a) Rules for the pursuit, arrest and extradition of offenders who have escaped from

British India to State territory, or vice versa, are given in Appendix XX.

• The procedure for securing the extradition of an offender Territory, from or to French Chandernagore is laid down in Appendix XXI.

325. (a) If it is necessary to secure the attendance of a person accused of a non-extraditable offence who has taken refuge in an Indian State included in the Eastern States Agency, the trial court should be moved to issue a letter of request through the Resident to Durbar concerned asking them to procure the attendance of the offender (vide Bengal Government order Nos. 4225-4254P., dated 12th April 1938). Warrants and summonses issued by British Indian courts in such cases have no legal validity in the States.

(b) A list of the States included in the Eastern States Agency, together with the addresses of their respective Political Agents is given in Appendix XXII.

326. (a) The accommodation of each lock-up shall be based on the scale of 36 square feet per prisoner.

• A notice in English and vernacular shall be hung up outside the lock-up at every police- station and post showing the maximum number of male or female prisoners which the lock-up is authorized by the Provincial Government to accommodate.
• The authorized number shall never be exceeded; end any excess shall be accommodated in a convenient building under an adequate guard.

327. (a) The officer in charge of a police-station or post shall be responsible for the safe custody of all prisoners brought to the station or post

(b) Before admitting prisoners to a police lock-up he shall carefully examine the person of the prisoner for any signs of injury, and record in the general diary a full description of any marks of injury found on him; if necessary calling independent witness from the neighborhood to witness the existence of the injuries at the time of admission to the lock-up.

Note.—The object of this regulation is to protect police officers against charges of torture founded on injuries received before the prisoner came into the hands of the police.

• He shall also search the prisoner and remove everything from his possession, except articles ot wearing apparel, and shall give the prisoner a receipt for all articles taken from his possession. (See regulation 322). Glass, conch-shell or iron bangles shall not be removed from the person of female prisoners. He shall allow the prisoner to take only strictly necessary clothing into the lock-up.
• He shall then enter and examine the lock-up and see that no weapons or articles that can facilitate escape or suicide, such as bamboos, ropes, tools, etc., are in or within reach of the lock­^u

328. (a) On the arrival of a prisoner, the officer in charge shall note the fact in the general diary and shall tell off a guard and place an Assistant Sub-Inspector, a head constable or a senior constable in charge. He shall enter the names of the Assistant Sub-Inspector, head 1861.1 constable or senior constable and the constables detailed and their hours of duty in the general diary. [See regulation 237(f).]

• At the time of relieving sentries, the officer in charge officer guard and the relieving sentry shall count the prisoners and see that all is well.

• The key of the lock-up shall remain with the sentry, and except in urgent cases, such as an outbreak of fire, he shall not unlock the doer without first calling the officer in charge of the police post.

• The sentries on duty between sunset and sunrise shall be provided with a lantern, which shall be kept burning brightly at a safe distance from the door, but in much a position as to illuminate the interior of the lock-up.
• If it be necessary to open the lock-up or to take out a prisoner, the officer in charge of the police post shall be called and the assistance of other constables taken, if necessary.
• Prisoners shall be taken out to relieve nature at as late an hour as possible before officers retire to rest, in order that- it may not be necessary to open the lock-up again during the night. Before being taken out they shall be secured with leg-shackles, hand-cuffs or rope. They shall not be allowed out of sight; and when relieving nature shall be attached by means of a rope to a constable.

329. (a) Prisoners arrested by the police for transmission to a Magistrate or to the scene of an enquiry, and also under-trial prisoners, shall not be subjected to more restrain than is necessary to prevent their escape. The use of handcuffs or ropes is often an unnecessary indignity.

In no case, shall women be handcuffed; nor shall restrain be used to those who either by age or infirmity are easily and securely kept in custody. Witnesses arrested under section 171, Code of Criminal Procedure, shall, in no circumstances be handcuffed.

In hailable cases prisoners should not be handcuffed unless violent and7 then only by the order of the officer in charge of the police-station, the reason for the necessity of this action being entered in the general diary and in the certificates in B. P. Form No. 57.

In non-bailable cases, the amount of restrain necessary must be left to the discretion- of the officers concerned, in certain circumstances the use of handcuffs may not be necessary to prevent escape but, if for instance, the prisoner is a powerful man in custody for a crime of violence, or is of notorious antecedents, or disposed to give trouble, or if the journey is long, or the number of prisoners is large, handcuffs way properly be used escort should, in any case, be supplied with handcuffs for use, should necessity arise.

• In the case of two prisoners whom it is necessary to handcuff, they will be handcuffed in couples, the right wrist of one to the left wrist of the other. In no circumstances should more than two prisoners be secured together.
• In all cases in which the use of handcuffs is allowed and considered necessary, and when no proper handcuffs are available, the prisoners may be secured by ropes or pieces of clothing. These shall be so ‘tied, as not to interfere unduly with proper circulation, and shall be replaced by handcuffs as soon as possible.
• Great caution shall be exercised at all times in the removal of handcuffs and other fastenings from prisoners en route whether by land or water.
• Handcuffs shall be- kept in good order. If broken, they shall be mended or replaced without delay.

330. regulation in Chapter XI for the escort of convicts apply generally to the guarding and escorting of persons arrested by the police, so far as they are not contradictory to the regulations contained in this chapter, but no person so arrested shall be subjected to more restraint than is necessary to ‘prevent his escape.
331. The following are the rules for the escort of prisoners to and from ‘police posts:—

• In dispatching prisoners c1ear instructions shall be given to the escort regarding route and halting places.
• In the generality of cases it wll1 be sufficient to send one constable in charge of one or even two petty offenders; if really necessary a chaukidar shall accompany him. In the event of the constable having to go aside for any purpose. he shall see that the prisoner is properly secured, and if a chaukidar is available, shall handcuff the prisoner’s right wrist to the chaukidar’s left. Chaukidars selected should be able-bodied. They shall be relieved when possible on the road, and not taken to an unreasonable distance from their villages. Their diet and traveling allowance, lodging hire and lighting expenses in connection with the escort or custody of accused persons arrested by them shall be paid from the grant under “Contract Contingencies” in the police budget at the rates laid down in regulation 1165.
• Chaukidars shall not be emp1oyed more than is absolutely necessary, as they are not liable to judicial punishment when prisoners escape.
• If the offence with which the prisoner is Charged is of a serious nature, or the, prisoner is of a desperate character, or if there be a large number of prisoners, the escort shall be proportionately increased, or in urgent cases more than one chaukidar may be called into help.
• When a prisoner sent up for trial is known to be desperate character or to have previously suffered from lunacy the fact shall be reported separately to the Court officer.
• The office in charge shall despatch prisoners at such a time that, ordinaril, they may arrive at their destination or a suitable halting place before nighifall. A certificate in B. P. Form No. 57 shall accompany the prisoners.
• Meals shall be taken by day light or if a short delay only be necessary, deferred until arrival at a station.

(viii) The officer in charge shall see, as far as possible, that prisoners in transit are properly fed and treated.

• If the party has to sleep at night on the road, the constable chare shall, on arriving at the village selected for the purpose, go the headman of the place and call upon him to provide a secure room for the custody of the prisoner or prisoners, and extra men, if necessary, for night guard.
• When prisoners go aside to relieve nature, they shall be secured by leg-shackles, handcuffs or a rope. They shall not be allowed out of sight and a rope shall connect the prisoner and his
• Every prisoner dispatched from a station to court shall, it possible, be forwarded direct to the nearest Magistrate having jurisdiction, and shall not be sent station by station or to the next superior officer of police.
• Police officers and others taking charge of vagrants, for the purposes of the European Vagrancy Act,, shall take such reasonable care of the vagrants as their physical condition, the season of the year, and other circumstances may render advisable.

(xiii) Police officers shall not compel witnesses or accused persons to travel long distances when they are not in a fit condition physically to stand the journey.

332. (a) Expenses incurred in feeding and transporting prisoners while in transit from police-

stations to headquarters, and of hajat prisoners made over temporarily to the police for purposes of detection as well as the cost of conveyance of stolen property and other articles sent to the court will be paid by the District Magistrate.

• The officer in charge of the escort shall keep an account of such expenditure and on return to the station, deliver the account together with the balance of any cash which may have been advanced to him, to the officer in charge of the police-station. If an escort is changed on the journey, the account with any undisbursed cash shall be made over to the relieving officer, who, on his return to his station, shall make it over to the officer in charge of the station for transmis­sion to the station of original dispatch.
• At the end of the month the officer in charge of the police-station shall prepare a detailed bill in duplicate in B. P. Form No. 58 of all expenses incurred on this account during the month and shall forward it to the Superintendent’s office. (See regulation 1181).

VI—INSPECTION.

333. A memorandum of points which should be thoroughly looked into by Superintendents, Sub divisional Police Officers and Inspectors is given in Appendix XXIII as an aide memoire. This memorandum is not exhaustive, an inspecting officers are, of course, at liberty to include within the scope of their inspections any other matters which appear to them to require scrutiny. It is not intended that remarks shall be recorded on any points unless they require notice, but it is expected that none of these points will be overlooked.
334. Civil Surgeon have instructions when on tour to inspect police-stations they may pass through in the course of their tours. They, while making an inspection of the police-station, shall record their remarks in the inspection register, in the same manner as any other inspecting officers, copies being forwarded by officers in charge of police-stations to Superintendents in the ordinary way. Superintendents shall do their best to carry out any recommendations made by medical officers, and if, for financial reasons they are unable to do so, they shall apply through the Deputy Inspector-General to the Inspector-General for necessary funds.

VII. —SURVEILLANCN.

335. (a) It is impossible to define with absolute precision the class of persons to be placed under surveillance and much discretion must be left to Superintendents. They should remember that although surveillance is to be exercised by the village authorities the efficiency of the surveillance will depend largely on the supervision maintained by the station staff, and the number of surveilles should be limited to what the staff is able to supervise effectively. The list of persons under surveillance should, therefore, be confined to the narrowest possible limits. It may, however, be laid down that all persons addicted to the following classes of crime should ordinarily be placed under surveillance: — (i) Persons who have at any time during the past five years been convicted of dacoity, burglary or theft, robbery, drugging, counterfeiting, murder for gain or bad livelihood and persons convicted under the Prevention of Smuggling Act, 1952 (Act LVIII of 1952).

(ii) Suspects. —Persons who are known or suspected to have been concerned in any of the above offences during the same period, or who are or are believed to be professional, habitual or notorious cattle-lifters or burglars, thieves, receivers of stolen property, harbourers or abettors or thieves, oi to belong to any criminal tribe or gang or suspected in any case under the Prevention of Smuggling Act, 1952 (Act LVIII of 1952)”.

• No person falling under clause (ii) shall be placed under surveillance unless a history sheet has been opened, and the orders of the Superintendent obtained in the manner laid down in the following regulation. In the case of persons falling under clause (i) the station officer should, from time to time, as opportunity occurs, institute enquiries with a view to ascertaining whether the ex-convict is living an honest life, or has reverted to criminal habits.

NOTE—Persons who have been convicted or are reasonably suspected of opium or cocain smuggling and in the districts of Rajhahi, Dinaipur and Bogra persons who have been convicted or are reasonably suspected of gania smuggling, should be placed under surveillance. Chaukidars, in whose jurisdiction such persons reside, should be furnished with a list giving their names and warned to report their absence to station officers without delay. Station officers shah deal with these report in the same manner as in the case of other bad characters or suspects.

336. (a) When the history sheef of any person gives rise to a reasonable presumption that the person concerned is an active criminal, the fact shall be reported to the Superintendent who will decide whether there are sufficient grounds for requiring the police to exercise closer supervision over him. It is desirable that, whenever possible, this decision should be based on enquiry at the police station and not merely on a written report. If the Superintendent decides that closer supervision is necessary, he should pass orders for his surveillance and the history sheet will then be dealt with as laid down in regulation 403 and it will be maintained in much greater detail.
337. (a) The Magistrate of the district or the Superintendent may direct the removal of surveillance from any person.

(b) Superintendents and Circle Inspectors shall scrutinize the entries in the history sheets whenever they visit a police-station. The opinion of the officer in charge of the police-station regarding the removal of names or the addition of new names should not be accepted as a matter of course, but the Superintendent should, whenever possible, proceed to the village where the suspect or ex-convict resides, and by questioning the villagers ascertain whether it is necessary to bring the suspect or ex-convict under surveillance. It may be occasionally expedient for the Superintendent to inform privately a person brought under surveillance that his conduct has been suspicious and that his movements will be closely watched by the police.

338. No unconvicted person shall ordinarily be kept under surveillance for more than three years. But if, for special reason, it is desirable to continue the surveillance beyond this period, the order of the District Magistrate shall be obtained and renewed at intervals

of one year on proceedings drawn up, either by the District Magistrate or by a Sub divisional Magistrate or by a Superintendent showing in detail the grounds on which surveillance is deemed necessary. These proceedings, with the District Magistrate’s order thereon, shall form the record of information to be noted in the history sheet. Proceedings drawn up under this regulation shall be treated as “confidential records” and shall be in the custody of the senior station officer.

339. Surveillance in towns shall be exercised by the police, but in villages it shall also be

entrusted to the union board, panchayet or watchmen. All union boards and panchayets shall be furnished by the officer in charge of the  with a list of bad characters residing within their

jurisdictions, and whenever any person is removed men, or brought under surveillance, due intimation shall be given to the village headman, president of union board or of panchayet to enable to correct his list.

340. (a) Local enquiries regarding each person under surveillance should ordinarily be made at

intervals of not less than one month. Such enquiries shall ordinarily be made by a Sub-Inspector, but when, owing to pressure of work or other special reason, no Sub-Inspector is available, the station officer may depute an assistant Sub inspector to make the enquiry, recording his reasons in the general diary. The main object of these visits is to ascertain whether the surveill6 is being watched by the village chaukidar, and that his movements and the visits to his house of strangers are promptly reported at the police-station. If there is reason to believe that the village authorities are neglecting their duty in this respect, the fact shall be immediately brought to the notice of the Superintendent who shall take such action as may be necessary. The opportunity should also be taken to enquire into the general conduct of the surveill6, his habits and particulars regarding his antecedents and his associates. All visits paid to the surveilin shall be entered in their history sheets.

• It is not practicable to lay down hard-and-fast rules regarding the classification of surveilks for purposes of supervision. It is the Circle Inspector who is in the best, position to decide, having regard to local conditions and the incidents of crime in his circle, the nature of the supervision to be exercised, and it is for the Circle Inspector subject to the general control of the Superintendent to pass orders, from time to time, as to the degree and nature of the supervision to be exercised by his station officers over each surveille in his circle jurisdiction.
• It is important that the method of the supervision exercised should be determined with reference to the class of crime to which the surveille is addicted, and should not be allowed to become sterotyped. For instance, a dacoit or burglar should obviously be looked up at his home at night, and, if necessary, several times the same night, especially during the dark nights; but in the case of a pick-pocket it would be of greatea use to have him carefully watched at hais and other places which he is known to frequent. In the case also of swindlers, druggers, utteres of counterfeit coins, forgers, etc., it is obviously useless to depend upon night visits. Such visits can serve no useful purpose and are a mere waste of time. What the station officer should aim at is to get early information of the absence of a criminal addicted to any of these crimes and to note the

fact of the absence in his registers, and on the return of the criminal question him as to the cause of his absence and verify his statement without delay. No detailed instructions can be laid down, but officers are expected to use their intelligence and make the surveillance as effective as possible.

• It may be occasionally necessary in special instances to maintain a secret watch over the movements of certain criminals, such as cannot be effectively carried out in the ordinary way. In such cases the officer in charge of the police station may employ agents or informers for the purpose, but he shall in each case report his action without delay to the Superintendent, through the Circle Inspector. Charges thus incurred will be met from the Superintendent’s grant for secret service.
• Gazetted officers should occasionally personally look up persons under surveillance as opportunity offers, and this should be A noted in the officer’s tour diary, as well as in the history sheets of the person concerned.
• The officer in charge of the police station shall see that every member of the station staff is able to recognise every surveille at sight. The local enquiries referred to in clause (a) should as far as possible be made by the officers in charge or his junior Sub-Inspector, but for surveillance Assistant Sub-Inspectors must also be employed and constables singly or as part of an organised patrol party may also be deputed from time to time to ascertain whether surveill6s arc absent from home. Constables may also be deputed to camping grounds, sarais, ferries, and all places of public resort, to pick up information, but the constables should be given definite instructions as to the localities they are to visit and the enquiries to be made, and they should be required to return to the police-station by a given time. All such deputstions must be entered in the general diary of the police-station, and any information which may have been obtained should be recorded in the history sheets.

342. When a bad character, who has been placed under surveillance, absents himself, it shall be the duty of the chaukidar immediately to inform the officer in charge of the police-station of the fact as well as of the destination of the criminal if this can be known. The information shall be conveyed personally by the village chaukidar, if the distance to be covered does not exceed five miles. In all other cases it will be sufficient if the panchayet or the union board sends a postcard report, the chaukidar confirming the information when he attends at the police-station on the next parade day. Printed postcards will be supplied, but if the supply of postcards is exhausted, a written report enclosed in an envelope may be sent by post bearing.
343. (a) The officer in charge of the police-station shall at once on receipt of the information, fill in a bad character roll “A” (B. P. Form No. 59) and shall add a brief precis of the habits and manners of such bad character and forward it by the quickest possible means, whether by hand or by post, to the officer in charge of the police-station within which is situated the place to which the bad character is alleged or believed to have gone. If the route to such destination lies within the jurisdiction of an intermediate police-station or stations, an intimation shall also be sent to such police-station unless it is believed that the surveille will proceed by railway or steamer.

• If the destination of the bad character is not known, a copy of the roil shall be sent to every police-station within or outside the province, to which there is any likelihood of his having gone. If the surveille is addicted to crime on the railways, intimation shall also be sent by the quickest possible means to the nearest railway police-station.
• If the surveill6 is a member of the known gang of criminals, the officer in charge shall besides taking action as above at once arrange that a special watch be maintained on other members of the same gang, whether residing in his own or other police-stations until the surveille returns.
• A police officer who receives the roll shall immediately take steps to ascertain whether the bad character has arrived within the limit of his jurisdiction. If the bad character is found the police officer shall note the date and hour of his arrival, the name of the person with whom he is staying, and the names of any persons with whom he associates and he shall arrange to have his proceedings watched in the same way as if he were a registered had character of his own station. If he has not been traced on the expiry of one week from the receipt of the roll, the officer receiving the roll shall return it with a statement to that effect on the back of it to the police- station of issue.
• When the bad character leaves the limits of the station for his home or elsewhere, within or outside the province, the officer in charge shall forward the roll to the officer in charge of the police-station to which the bad character has gone, noting on the back of it all the information regarding the individual’s movements which was collected while he was residing within the limits of the station and sending intimation to any intermediate police-station or stations falling on his route, unless it is believed that the surveille will proceed by railway or steamer. If the bad character goes to a police station other than that in which he is registered, the officer in charge of the latter shall be informed of the fact.

344. If the union board, panchayet or watchmen hear of the advent of a suspicious stranger in their villages, it shall be their duty to question the person regarding his antecedents and residence, and to send to the police-station, with as little delay as possible, all the information obtained by them. The procedure laid down in regulation 342 shall be followed if the enquiry shows that there is reason to believe that the stranger is a bad character.
345. (a) On receipt of information that a suspicious stranger has arrived within the station

jurisdiction it shall be the duty of the officer in charge of the police-station to send bad character roll “B” (B. P. Form No. 60) with the utmost possible despatch to the police-. station within the limits of which the stranger alleges that he resides. If before the receipt of the reply to the roll, the stranger leaves the place or another jurisdiction, a copy of the roll shall be sent to that police- station.

• On receiving such a roll the officer in charge of a police-station shall at once return it with complete information regarding the individual in question, if he is a resident of that station; while, if he is not a resident, the roll shall be returned with a statement to that effect. In such case the officer who issued the roll must take all possible steps to discover the identity of the stranger.
• The nature of the information received regarding the stranger will guide the police officer as to the steps that should be taken, whether to institute proceedings under section 109 or 110, Code of Criminal Procedure or to watch the movements of the stranger. Bad character rolls “A” and “B” for reporting the arrival or departure of bad characters on their return to the issuing officer shall be passed on the foil of the roll book. They shall be destroyed after three years.

345. (a) Surveillance -should be by gangs. If a member of a gang is found absent, an enquiry slip shall be immediately issued to all police-stations within whose jurisdictions any of the members of the gang resides, stating the facts, enquiring whether any of the other members were absent at the same time. Similar steps are to be taken on the occurrence of a crime in which a known gang is suspected of having been concerned. In cases of dacoity, there should be no delay in issuing these enqury slips. They shall be issued immediately after the first information has been recorded and the fact noted in the general diary, giving the number and date of the slip and the officer and the name of the police-station to which the slip has been issued. It shall be the duty of the officer receiving the slip to take action without delay, and to inform the officer who issued the slip of the result of the enquiry. He shall enter his general diary the date and hour on which he received the slip and the date and hour on which he returned it. In the event of any of the members of the gang being found absent, the fact and the number of the enquiry slip will be noted in the history sheet. All slips shall be carefully filed by the issuing officer, as evidence of absence of gangs of known criminals simultaneous with an outbreak of crime is valuable evidence in bad livelihood cases. As much use as possible shall be made of village panchayats, union boards and chaukidars to assist in the surveillance over gangs, and they should be encouraged by liberal rewards from the Chaukidari Fund to report the absence of a member of a gang or of the visit of any strangers to members of a gang.
346. Juvenile offenders may be placed under surveillance by the Superintendent on their discharge from the Reformatory or Borstal School only with the approval of the District Magistrate and if their conduct in the school or after discharge from there necessitates such action.
347. The officer in charge of a police-station shall report to the Superintendent all cases in which criminal charges are laid before the police against boys licensed under section 18(1) of the Reformatory Schools Act, 1897 (VIII of 1897), by their pro-tern pore employers and against adolescents licensed under section 12(l) of the Bengal Borstal Schools Act, 1928 (I of 1928) and shall proceed to deal with such cases in the usual manner according to law. All cases in which ex-reformatory school boys are concerned shall be similarly reported. (See regulation 453.)

Note. —”Reformatory school boys” include “Borstal school boys”.

348. For rules applying to persons who are conditionally discharged under section 124 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and persons against whom an order has been made under section 565 of that Code, see Appendix XXIV.

Police officers shall report to the District Magistrate through the Superintendent any breach of the conditions imposed under section 124 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

349. (a) In giving effect to the rules, in Appendix XXIV no unnecessary harassment of ex­convicts shall be permitted. Any reasonable excuse for failure to report residence or any intended change of or absence from residence, or delay in reporting any change of residence, shall be accepted. When any breach of the rules comes to the notice of an officer in charge of a station and is reasonably explained, particulars shall be entered in the general diary. If any such breach is not at once reasonably explained, the station officer shall make any summary enquiry which may be required to ascertain the facts, and, if necessary, take action for prosecution under section 176, Indian Penal Code. Any breach of the rules shall be recorded in the Village Crime Note­Book at police-stations. The original statement as to residence mentioned in sub-clause (i) of the rules in Appendix XXIV shall be kept in the police-station where the convict has to notify his residence.

(b) If the ex-convict does not return to the proposed place of residence within a reasonable time, and his whereabouts are not known the statement in duplicate received from the jail shall be sent to the Superintendent of the district where he was last convicted, one copy being kept in the Superintendent’s office and the other in the police-station from which the man was sent up.

350. The names of persons convicted under the Opium Act, 1878, and the Bengal Excise Act, 1909, whom the Superintendent of Excise considers require surveillance, shall be forwarded by him to the Superintendent of Police, who will issue the necessary orders to the police -station officer. The latter will open a history sheet from the information supplied by the excise authorities and exercise the necessary surveillance over the convict.
351. It is to be clearly understood that the police cannot interfere with the movements of persons who are bona fide engaged in trade, and that they may only resort to preventive action in order to protect the public from the depredations of those wandering gangs whose object is rather plunder or larceny than legitimate trade. The following wandering gangs, among others suspected of being criminal, are generally found in Bengal and are a source of nuisance and danger to the public:—

(1) Dom (Maghaya), (2) Karwal, (3) Irani, (4) Minka alias Madari and (5) Sandars.

352. (a) Every dafadar is required to report without delay to his police-station the presence or arrival within his village boundary of any wandering gang.

• On receipt of such information the officer in charge of the police-station shall personally visit the place where the gang is located, and if such gang is known or suspected to either criminal or troublesome and oppressive, shall arrange to watch it carefully, particularly at night. For this purpose a sufficient number of constables, dafadars and chaukidars should be told off with clear instructions as to their duties. If the gang is not known or suspected to be either criminal or oppressive, the officer in charge of the police-station shall not place it under surveillance nor interfere with it in any way.
• At frequent but irregular intervals the officer in charge of the police-station or a junior officer deputed by him shall visit the encampment of every wandering criminal or Oppressive gang under surveillance within his jurisdiction, and shall satisfy himself that the surveillance exercised by constabels, dafadars and chaukidars is really effective. Such visit shall be made at night whenever possible. The officer making the visit shall also enquire from the residents in the neighborhood about the behavior of the gang, and if complaints are made against the gang, he shall enquire into them and take such other action as may be necessary in the circumstances of the case. Full details of these visits shall be noted in the officer’s inufassil diary.
• If the gang is found to be criminal or oppressive, whether it be a foreign Asiatic gang or not, no effort shall be spread to bring the offenders to justice for specific crimes and in default of this to deal with the members of the gang under the preventive sections of the Code of Criminal Procedure. On no account shall they be passed on under police guard from one province or one district to another.
• Whenever a criminal Or Oppressive gang leaves, or is about to leave the jurisdiction of one police-station for another, the officer in charge of the police-station which the gang is leaving shall send by the quickest available means information to the officer in charge of the police-station to which the~ gang is Proceeding, to enable the latter to make arrangements for visiting and watching the gang. Whenever possible, this information shall be sent in advance.

(I) All information received at police-stations regarding the movements of wandering gangs shall be entered in the general diary, and it shall be the duty of Circle Inspectors to see that action under this regulation is promptly taken by station officers.

353. Gangs of foreign Asiatic vagrants shall on no account be passed on under police

surveillance from one province or district to another. Whenever it may appear to the officer in charge of a district that the presence of any such foreigners is undesirable, and that they can cannot be dealt with under the Code of Criminal Procedure, insteadfor of passing them on to an adjacent district, he shall submit a report of the circumstance through the proper channel, to the Provincial Government, asking for their deportation under the Foreigners Act,1864 (III of 1864). Under section 2 of that Act the onus of proof that he is not a foreigner and not subject to the provisions of the Act lies on the person so charged. Full lists and descriptive rolls of the persons to be deported shall be submitted.

NOTE.- Foreign Asiatic vagrants are trans-frontier tribesmen who generally shall visit India with the intention of committing crime. More often than not they wander about the country without any visible means of subsistence. It is believed that many of these vagrants enter India as traders with the connivance of the regular pawindabs, who deliberately allow fellow-tribesmen to accompany them for the purpose of crime.

354. (a) This Act is an effective check upon the movements of bad characters and suspicious strangers who reside in hotels, sarais and lodging-house and prey upon the public at important steamer or railway stations, district and subdivisional headquarters and other commercial centers. It is also useful as a means of prevention and detection of crime and facilitates the tracing of missing or suspected persons. The sarai-keeper is required under the Bengal Sarais Regulations, 1931, to keep a list of visitors, and literate persons are required to sign their names and illiterate ones to give their thumb impressions in the register. Illiterate sarai-keepers are to be assisted by a literate officer from the police-station.

• If any person refuses to give information concerning himself or if any suspicion arises against any particular person or persons, the sarai-keeper should be asked to report the fact immediately to the police for enquiry, with a view to the institution of proceedings under section 109, Code of Criminal Procedure, if necessary.
• Station officers who will, as a rule, be authorized as Inspectors under the Act, shall work the provisions of the Act carefully and treat the sarai-keepers with tact, courtesy and consideration.

VIII. -OUT-POSTS AND PATROLS

355. (a) The officer in charge of an outpost though responsible for the state of his post, will

only perform the same duties he would carry out if posted to the present police-station, subject in the same way to the control arid direction of the Sub-Inspector.

(b) Sub-Inspectors in charge of police-stations shall inspect all outposts within their jurisdiction frequently, and are responsible for the state of them and for the conduct of the officers stationed here.

356. (a) As local conditions differ greatly throughout the province no system of town patrols

which will be generally applicable can be laid down. Superintendents shall prescribe a suitable system for the towns in their districts. The rules shall be clearly drawn up in the district order book and a copy supplied to each police-station concerned. A copy in the vernacular shall be hung up in each town outpost.

• The town area shall be divided into beats and at certain important localities, fixed posts shall also be established so that the public as well as the beat constables~ may know where to apply for aid in case of necessity. Ordinarily one-tenth of the force of each outpost shall be reserved for vacancies, sickness, etc. Two-thirds of the remainder shall be detailed for night duty, the remaining one-third being utilised for day duty. Duty shall be so arranged that every head constable and constable shall have one night out of every three off duty. The desirability of having a certain proportion of. the town staff working in plain clothes shall be borne in mind as well as the necessity for concentrating rather on the bye-lanes and the backs of houses than on main thoroughfares. Uniformed constables when proceeding from the outpost on duty shall invariably be inspected and marched off by a head constable.

The force in particular beats may be strengthened when the state of crime necessitates it by a corresponding decrease in other beats.

• Town constables should be frequently instructed in the necessity for noticing small details, e.g., open doors at night, suspicious noises, men lurking in the shadows, etc. They shall also be well acquainted with all resident bad characters, their appearance, associates and the places they frequent, all sarais, hotels, licensed liquor shops, etc.
• A roster of daily duties in B. P. Form No. 61 shall be r maintained at each town outpost which shall show how each officer is employed every day as well as the daily number of thefts and burglaries which occur in each beat.
• Each patrol party proceeding from a rural outpost shall be given a command certificate in which the villages they will visit and the bad characters they will look up shall be clearly mentioned. On their return to the outpost, the patrol parties will report on the back of the command certificate how the patrolling was carried out and whether the bad characters were found present.

NOTE. —Detailed instructions and suggestions for carrying out these patrols will be found in “Notes on patrols” by Sir Douglas Gordon, C.LE., J.P.

357. In case of accidents in streets or in oilier public places abstracts of particulars of an occurrence may be supplied in B.P. Form No. 62 to parties concerned on application which must be accompanied by a fee of Rs.5 (see memorandum of instructions on the back of form).
358. (a) The Superintendent shall decide in what towns in the district there shall be nightly rounds, and in each such towns an officer shall be deputed daily to perform them.

• The Superintendent shall himself go to the rounds occasionally and shall depute his Assistant and Deputy Superintendents to do so.
• In towns where there is no Town Inspector, it is part of the regular duty of the Armed Inspector and Sergeant to go the rounds, and the Superintendent shall lay down, in the district order book, how often in the month or week each such officer shall do so.
• All Inspectors and Sub-Inspectors stationed at or visiting district or sub divisional headquarters are liable for this duty.
• Although Assistant Sub-Inspectors should be used as frequently as possible for the supervision of town patrols, they should not be deputed as rounds officers or visit the guards.

(I) Officers should invariably note in their tour diaries the date and hour of all such night rounds.

359. The station and town police shall pay special attention to post offices. A note of the fact that there is a post office in any particular village shall be made in Part III of the Village Crime Note-Book. All police officers going out on patrol at night, either in towns or in the interior, shall make a point of inspecting the watch at post offices and shall see whether the men employed by the Postal Department to guard the offices are doing their duty. If any carelessness or remissness is found, a report shall be submitted through the Superintendent to the postal authority concerned.
360. (a) Floating outposts and patrol launches are at the disposal of the Superintendent of the

district to which allocated subject to the general control of the Deputy Inspector-General. They are intended to be a mobile force for the purpose of protection of bona Me users of the main waterways of the district and for control and detection of river criminals, and the prevention of river crime. The Superintendent with the consent of the Range Deputy Inspector-General may alter the location of any launch or floating outpost but shall invariably specify in a district order the police-station to which it is proposed to be allotted and define its jurisdiction so that the responsibility of the Circle Inspector and officer in charge of the police-station with regard to the observance of the rules relating to these crafts may be specified, and the patrol area of the officer in charge of the floating outpost defined.

• It shall be the duty of the Range Deputy Inspector-General to see that efforts is not wasted by allowing two floating outposts to patrol the whole or part of the same area, and to bear in mind the principle that these patrols are for the main water ways, the lesser routes being already provided for by station patrol boats.
• The strength of a floating outpost is 1 Assistant Sub-Inspector and 5 constables. The extra strength allotted to a police-station with a patrol launch is 1 Sub-Inspector and 3 constables. The individual personnel will be attached to the parent police-station and the whole staff of Assistant Sub-Inspectors and constables will take turn and turn about on outpost duty—usually at 3 months’ intervals. Similarly all the Sub-Inspectors at the police-station shall in turn do launch patrolling. When moved from one station to another the outpost shall take its allotted strength to the new station. When possible the Sub-Inspector allotted for a launch shall be accommodated in the upper deck excluding the office and record-room. In other cases the Assistant Sub-Inspector in charge may occupy these upper deck quarters.
• To each floating outpost shall be attached 1 ghasi boat with 1 manjhi and 3 rnallahs. These boats shall be hired by the Superintendent at a rate not exceeding Rs.60 each per mensem from recognised contractors, tenders being called for where possible. The tendered shall undertake to provide always a serviceable boat with the requisite crew to perform not less than 15 night patrols per month.
• There shall be two muskets at each floating outpost and patrol launch with 20 rounds of ball ammunition for each musket and 10 rounds of buckshot ammunition for each floating outpost and patrol launch. The officer in charge shall be personally responsible for the cleanliness, care and safety of these weapons. They shall be taken out with the prescribed ammunition with every patrol party.
• Detailed rules for the working of floating outposts and patrol launches are contained in Appendix XXV.

361. (a) In addition to floating outposts and patrol launches patrol boats are provided for certain police-stations as an aid to the officer in charge in—

• the prevention of crime and particularly that form of crime in which boats are used by criminals either in going to or escaping from the scene of occurrence;
• the stopping of any particular area after the commission of a crime in order to examine all suspicious boats and persons coming out of the area under observation;
• the observation of the movements of river-borne traffic during the rains over a larger area than would be otherwise possible and its proper protection.
• These boats shall be under the control of the Superintendent and are to be employed solely on patrol duties.
• The limits within which each patrol boat is to be employed shall be determined by the Superintendent. As a rule boats shall not proceed beyond those limits except under circumstances of emergency, such as the pursuit of offenders.
• Each boat shall ordinarily be manned by not less than one Assistant Sub-Inspector and two constables. They will form a part of the strength of the police-station to which the boat is attached and shall be detailed for boat duty strictly in turn with the other Assistant Sub­Inspectors and constables there.
• Patrol should ordinarily be confined to especially dangerous spots with provision for surprise visits at uncertain intervals in other areas, according to the incidence of crime. The period for which each party shall remain on duty depends upon local conditions. The Superintendent shall use his discretion in the matter.

NOTE. —This does not, of course, apply to special circumstances, such as a pursuit, when the Assistant Sub-Inspector in charge must use his discretion.

• In each group of officers detailed for duty in the patrol boat there shall be two officers at least who have recently fired their musketry course and know the use and care of arms.
• Each patrol boat shall be provided with two muskets from the station with 20 rounds ball ammunition per musket and 10 rounds buckshot ammunition per patrol boat. The packets of ball ammunition shall not be opened until required, but one packet of buckshot ammunition shall be opened, 5 rounds being kept loose in the pouch of each constable on duty.
• An armed sentry shall always be on duty to be relieved every four hours. The muskets when not in use shall be securely fastened to the boat by drawing a chain or bar through the trigger-guards.
• Each patrol boat shall have a crew of not less than one man liii (steersman) and two mcdlahs (rowers), and be equipped with a serviceable sail and mast.
• Any one of the crew absent without leave shall be fined 8 annas for every day or part of a day he is so absent. The officer in charge shall note such absences in the acquaintance roll of the crew. The amount of fine for unauthorized absences shall be deducted from the contract amount payable monthly to the person from whom the boat is hired.
• The round of weeldy duties of the patrol boat shall ordinarily be as below:—
• Patrol—Four days.
• Observation of traffic in the vicinity of the police-station— Two days.
• Rest—One day.

These duties may be varied at the discretion of the station officer, the days of patrol, observation or rest being altered every week, so that the direction of the patrol or the day of rest or observation may not be anticipated. One day’s rest a week must be given, if possible, to the crew.

• Every patrol will be carried out under the definite written orders of the officer in charge of the police-station who should detail—
• the streams and khals to be patrolled;
• the villages to be visited;
• the kind of information to be collected;
• the persons to be looked for; and
• the kinds of boats to be watched and, if necessary, examined.
• In sending out a boat for patrol or for observation, etc., the station officer shall, as far as possible, so arrange that an immediate message can be sent out quickly to it, on the occurrence of any emergency, such as a dacoity, in order that the boat may change its course or come back to the police-station.
• In performing the duties detailed above, the boat stall shall—
• find out all about the boats moored at the ghats, viz., where they come from, where they are going to, what they carry, with special regard to any suspicious circumstances indicating the possibility that they are concerned in crime;
• treat all ghasi and sip boats ordinarily with suspicion and, if any reasonable suspicion exists, shall examine them, asking and noting the names of all the passengers and crew, their destination, the place from which they have come, etc., and then, if necessary, place them under observation until searched according to the provisions of section 165, Code of Criminal Procedure;
• on the occurrence of a dacoity, keep under observation every ghasi or sip boat found within a reasonable distance and time of the occurrence, until searched as in clause (ii) above;
• make careful enquiries, particularly at night, about gayana boats found shortly after a dacoity, as these boats also are not always above suspicion;
• seize any suspicious property found, sunh as ram daos, kukris, sledge-hammer, chhenis, swords, spears, masks, torches, firearms, etc.;
• give as far as possible convoy to boats passing through any particularly dangerous part of the route; and
• get acquainted with the different towns and villages on and near the rivers and the habits of the people living therein.
• The station patrol boats shall not be used either as a means of conveyance for police officers or for the ordinary work connected with a police-station, such as the serving or execution of processes, domiciliary visits of bad characters, etc., hut advantage may be taken of them to check the work of chaukidars at night or to ascertain the whereabouts of bad characters or suspects on the report of an occurrence.
• The Assistant Sub-Inspector on duty in the boat shall keep a mulassil diary in duplicate, recording therein his proceedings during his tour of duty and submit it on relief to the officer in charge. The duplicate copy of the diary shall be sent each day to the Circle Inspector.
• Every boat shall have a distinguishing number and a flag. The number shall be painted on the boat and quoted in all correspondence, defect lists, etc.

• Superintendents shall watch carefully the working of the patrol boats and shall notice their work in their annual reports. Other inspecting officers shall also pay special attention to these boats and notice their condition.
• The police employed on rivers shall work in concert with the land police. The land police shall, in like manner, work in co-operation with those in the boats, each communicating to the other any information obtained and mutually assisting in the detection and arrest of offenders.
• The Circle Inspector shall inspect the moving of the patrol boats once every tw~ months, and superior officers as often as they are required to inspect police-stations.