Mumbai Police registers 12 FIRs under three new criminal laws

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 nowdefunct laws have been modified From top officers to constables all ranks have been trained in the new systemThe BNS BNSS and BSA replace the Indian Penal Code 1870 IPC Code of Criminal Procedure 1973 CrPC and Indian Evidence Act1872 IEA respectively The new laws were passed in Parliament on December 21 2023 The BNS has 358 sections as opposed to the IPCSrsquos 511ldquoWe 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 officesrdquo said Satyanarayan Chaudhary joint commissioner of police law and orderThe Bombay High Court Lawyers have been assiduously studying the new laws File picShadab KhanldquoAll 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 lawsrdquo Chaudhary addedFirst caseThe first case was registered at the DB Marg police station at 228 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 66C and 66D Previously cheating cases were registered under the famous Section 420 of the IPC and cheating by personation under Section 416The NCRBrsquos Sankalan appAccording to the FIR the complainant Dilip Subhedar Singh 36 stated that on the night of June 25 around 1030 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 lsquoChachasalrsquo 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 73000 Realising he had been duped Singh filed a complaint with the DB Marg policeA 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 registeredAnother caseIn 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 IPCMeanwhile 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 1172 1173 1174 of the BNS According to sources it was likely a system error Officers at Navghar police station were not unavailable for commentThe 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 errorfree 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 eliminatedHelpful appThe National Crime Records Bureau NCRB has developed an application which most of the police officers lawyers and people dealing with the laws have downloadedAsked 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 ldquoElaborate 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 lawsrdquoldquoThere is an app developed by NCRB called Sankalan which is available on both Android and iOS This app is very userfriendly and elaborately describes deletions additions and modifications in a colourcoded manner and also has a chart of old and new sections Plus there is a nationallevel helpline for police officers which has also been circulated to our officers So overall we are all set for the transitionrdquo Pandey told midday The first FIR was registered under the BNS in the Mira Bhayandar Vasai Virar MBVV policersquos jurisdiction against a mobile thief under Section 305 at the Manikpur police station on July 1The inspector at Manikpur police station Raju Mane said ldquoThis 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 FIRrsquos copy errorfreerdquo The cops at Vasai police station were seen turning the pages of the new law book while others were looking at the NCRB app228 AMTime first case was registered under BNS on July 1July 1Day new laws came into effectChangesCheating Covered under Section 318 of the BNS as opposed to 420 of IPCMurder Covered under Section 103 of the BNS as opposed to 302 of IPCRape Earlier under IPC Section 376 it is covered under Section 63 of BNSGang rape Previously under IPC Section 376D the offence is now covered under BNS Section 70 1Cruelty against a married woman Previously under IPC Section 498A the offence is covered under Section 85 of the BNSDowry death Previously Section 304B in the IPC the offence is now covered under BNS Section 80Sexual harassment Previously under IPC Section 354A the offence is now covered under Section 75 of the BNSOutraging the modesty of a woman Previously under Section 354 in the IPC the offence is now covered under Section 74 of the BNSCriminal intimidation Previously Section 503 in the IPC it is now covered under Section 351 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita