Under Bengal Police Regulation 1943
393. Crime Register, Part I. [§ 12, Act V, 1861]. – Only matters relating to true cases of offences named in the schedule below shall be entered in Part I :-
Columns 1 and 2. – Require no explanation.
Column 3. – modus operandi should include references to the way in which the crime appears to have been conceived, how the place of occurrence was reconnoitred, in what way stolen property was carried off, etc.
Column 4. – The value of property as declared by the Magistrate shall be entered and not that given in the First Information Report.
Column 5. – This column shall contain full particulars of the person suspected in the case mentioned in column 2. Cross references to Parts II, III or IV of the same or other police-station registers, shall be given.
(1) Offences under Chapters XII and XVII, Indian Penal Code, punishable with whipping or with imprisonment for 3 years or upwards.
(2) Personating a public servant, etc. – Sections 170 and 172, Indian Penal Code.
(3) Murder for gain, murder by professional hired assassins and murder of spies and approvers – Section 302, Indian Penal Code.
(4) Professional drugging – Section 328, Indian Penal Code.
(5) Professional kidnapping, abduction and buying or selling of slaves or minor children – Sections 363 to 373, Indian Penal Code.
(6) Professional swindling.
(7) Professional mischief by killing or poisoning animals – Section 428, Indian Penal Code.
(8) Professional forgery – Sections 465 to 469, Indian Penal Code.
(9) Offences relating to forgery of currency or bank notes – Sections 489A, 489B, 489C and 489D, Indian Penal Code.
(10) Offences relating to arms and ammunition – Sections 19(a)(e) and (f), 19A and 20 of the Indian Arms Act.
(11) Railways – Section 126 or 127 of the Indian Railways Act, 1890.
(12) Conspiracy, abetment and attempt in respect of offences mentioned in items (1) to (11) above.
(13) Offences under the Goondas Act, 1923 (Bengal Act I of 1923).
(14) Offences in connection with political agitation.
(15) Offences under the Telegraph Wires (Unlawful Possession) Act, (Act No. LXXIV of 1950).
Note. – First offenders dealt with by Courts under section 562, Code of Criminal Procedure, shall be treated as convicted. Convictions under section 511, Indian Penal Code, in respect of any of the offences mentioned above, shall also be entered, persons sent to a lunatic asylum from a jail irrespective of offence under which convicted should also find entry. Abetment in respect of any of the offences mentioned above, shall similarly be entered.
394. Conviction register, Part II [§ 12, Act V, 1861]. – This part shall contain the name of every person residing in the village who has been convicted of any of the offences specified in the schedule in the regulation above and under the following sections of law :-
(i) Sections 109 and 110, Code of Criminal Procedure,
(ii) Sections 304, 324, 326, 327, 329, 332 and 333, Indian Penal Code,
(iii) Sections 21, 22 and 24, Criminal Tribes Act,
(iv) Sections 3 and 4, Bengal Criminal Law Amendment (Industrial Area) Act, 1942, and
(v) Section 2, Howrah Offences Act (XXI of 1957).
The convictions of homeless vagrants shall be entered in the spare part kept under regulation 392(5).
Columns 1 and 3. – Require no explanation.
Column 2. – Personal description shall be copied from the final memorandum in which the Court officer writes it for the information of the police-station officer.
Column 4. – In the case of a person convicted in the Session or High Court the name of the committing Magistrate shall also be given.
Columns 5 and 7. – Name of identifying jail warder, notes about P.R., P.R./T and F.P. date of release and name of jail from which released, shall be entered on receipt of P.R. slip.
Column 6. – In case of reconviction, cross-references shall be given to the old and fresh entry, the fact being similarly noted in the Index (Part V).
400. Village History, Part III. [§ 12, Act V, 1861]. – The information to be entered in this part shall be obtained from all reliable sources that are available and shall go back as many years as possible. When once the history has been written up, it shall be added to from time to time by the station officer as fresh information is obtained or fresh events occur.
401. History sheets, Part IV. [§ 12, Act V, 1861]. – (a) History sheets shall contain a short account of the life of the person to whom they relate and all facts likely to have a bearing on his criminal history. They shall be opened only for persons, who are, or are likely to become, habitual criminals or the aiders or abettors of such criminals. The conviction of a person for a heinous offence, such as robbery, dacoity, serious burglary or receiving stolen property, will ordinarily be sufficient to justify the opening of a history sheet, unless there be reason to believe that although convicted of one of these offences, the man is not a habitual criminal. For instance, a history sheet would not be opened for a man who, though convicted of housebreaking, is believed to have committed the offence in order to carry on an intrigue with a woman and not for the purpose of theft. On the other hand, if a person is suspected of being a receiver of stolen property, or of being concerned of systematic cattle theft, history sheet shall be begun, even if he has not been convicted. History sheets shall not be prepared for persons dealt with as first offenders under section 562, Code of Criminal Procedure. Proceedings under section 110 of that Code, shall ordinarily not be taken until a history sheet establishes a case of bad livelihood. But if security has, in any case, been demanded from a person under section 109 or 110, Code of Criminal Procedure, before the preparation of a history sheet, such a sheet shall at once be opened.
(b) In all cases the orders of the Circle Inspector shall be obtained before a history sheet is opened, and the Inspector’s orders shall be confirmed by the Superintendent when inspecting the station. Orders about starting history sheets may also be conveniently passed by the Superintendent on final memoranda. If any information favourable to an individual, whose name has been entered in the history sheet, is obtained, it shall be duly recorded
(c) There shall be no regular watching over the movements of persons for whom history sheets are opened, unless they have been placed under surveillance by the Superintendent, but when the officer-in-charge visits the village he shall make confidential enquiries regarding the mode of life of such person, and note in the history sheets information, both favourable and unfavourable, which he may obtain in this or any other way. If the man has not been suspected of complicity in any case during any calendar year the fact shall be noted in his favour at the commencement of the next calendar year.
(d) History sheets shall be consecutively numbered and kept together in a separate file as long as such persons are not brought under surveillance, with an index at the beginning.
(e) When a man, for whom a history sheet is maintained, leaves the limits of one station and resides for over 3 months in another police-station within or outside the province his history sheet shall be sent to the latter police-station. When the police-station is in another province the history sheet should be sent through the Superintendent concerned. This transfer shall be noted against the individual’s name in the index. Officers receiving history sheets shall acknowledge receipt. Such history sheets will be dealt with in exactly the same way as other sheets in existence in the province, i.e., the sheets shall be labelled “Confidential” and governed by the rules existing in that province.
402. Instructions for writing up history sheet. [§ 12, Act V, 1861]. – (a) When a person for whom a history sheet has been opened is placed under surveillance, the classification ordered noted at the top against the heading “Class.” In calculating the approximate date of release, allowance shall be made for ordinary remission of sentence granted to prisoners under the Jail Code. Convictions shall be entered in chronological order, giving date, name of convicting Court, section and term of punishment. The actual date of release shall be noted on receipt of the P.R. slip in case of P.R. prisoners and in other cases the date shall be obtained from the Court officer concerned. The name of the jail from which released shall also be noted below the date. If the convict does not return home after release, the fact shall invariably be noted.
(b) The usual method of committing crime, and details of any property possessed by the person, the number of persons whom he has to maintain and his occupation and approximate earnings, and of cases in which he was suspected but not convicted, shall be given in his biography in narrative form.
Details of cases in which he is known to have taken part as well as of cases in which he is reasonably suspected to have taken part with the grounds for suspicion shall be entered in this part as they occur In addition at the beginning of each year a note shall be made as to his behaviour during the preceding year with any details of permanent interest about the person’s criminal history obtained from a perusal of the enquiry note-sheets.
(c) All entries shall be signed in full and dated.
403. History sheets of men placed under surveillance. [§ 12, Act V, 1861]. – History sheets of men placed under surveillance shall be removed from the main file of history sheets and kept in a separate file, with an alphabetical index at the beginning. This will serve the purposes of a surveillance register and no other surveillance register shall be kept. When a man is removed from surveillance, his history sheet shall be detached from this file and placed at its original place in the main file. When a surveille leaves the limits of one station and resides in another within or outside the province for over three months, his history sheet shall be sent to the station where he goes and the fact noted against his name in the index. When the police-station is in another province the history sheet shall be sent to the Superintendent concerned in that province. The officer-in-charge of the new station shall acknowledge receipt of the history sheet and continue to treat the surveille as a surveille of his own police-station until he goes back to his former residence, when his history sheet shall be returned.
404. Enquiry note-sheet, Part IVA. [§ 12, Act V. 1861]. – (a) In these sheets, which will be attached to the history sheets, shall be noted the movements of persons placed under surveillance and the result of enquiries regarding, them. Information about the various places frequented by the criminal, the opinion of the people as to his character and doings, the visits of strangers and suspicious characters to his house, the fluctuation of crime with his presence at or absence from any place, his style of living inconsistent with an honest legitimate income, etc., shall all be carefully collected by private visits and other enquiries and duly noted, so that the sheet may contain full materials for instituting proceedings under the preventive sections of the Code of Criminal Procedure, should such be necessary.
If the suspect is found absent from home, enquiries shall be made as to his whereabouts, and if he is a member of a gang, about the whereabouts of his confederates. Enquiry slips shall freely be issued to test the truth of any statements which may subsequently be taken.
(b) All visits made by the station officer and by officers deputed by him shall be entered, as well as any information obtained at such visits, information of real importance being incorporated in Part IV as laid down in regulation 402.
Note. – The enquiry note-sheet. Part IVA, shall be preserved for three years.
405. Index, Part V. [§ 12, Act V, 1861]. – This shall be kept in the form of a bound register. It is the index of persons convicted as well as of persons suspected but not convicted. For entry of the names a sufficient number of pages shall be allotted to each letter of the alphabet.
Names of those convicted should be entered in red ink and those suspected in black. If a suspected person is subsequently convicted, his name should be underlined with red ink. Names should only be entered once and sufficient space should be left below each name so that subsequent references can be noted in columns 4 and 5. In the “remarks” column the date of birth should be noted against the names of persons convicted. Whenever the name of a person is entered in this index, a reference to the page number on which his name is noted should be gives in the connected parts of the Village Crime Note-Book.
406. Responsibility of gazetted officers for Village Crime Note-Book. [§ 12, Act V, 1861]. – Gazetted officers are required to pay special attention to the Village Crime Note-Book and shall make a point of personally making as many entries as possible in it. This may be either confirmatory or supplementary of entries made by the staff of the police-station.
When visiting villages, Sub-divisional Police Officers and Circle Inspectors shall check by local enquiry a certain proportion of the entries made in Part III relating to the villages in question.
407. Periodical reports and returns. – (a) A list of periodical reports and returns due from each police-station and floating outpost is given in Appendix XII.
(b) The original copy of every periodical report and return shall be filed at the station or post, those for the various periods, weekly, monthly, etc., being filed separately.
Miscellaneous returns shall be filed together monthly.
