[29th September, 1869.]
An Act to amend the constitution of the Police-force in Bengal.
Preamble. – Whereas it is expedient that the entire police-establishment in the provinces under the control of the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal should cease to be one police-force, and that the said provinces should cease to be one general police-district under one Inspector-General;
It is enacted as follows:-
1. Repeal of section 2, Act 5 of 1861. – Repealed by Act 1 of 1903.
2. Power to divide the States into police-districts. – It shall be lawful for the [State Government], [* * * * *] from time to time, to divide the said [States] into as many general police-districts as [it] may think fit, and from time to time to vary and alter any of such general police-districts, or to consolidate two or more of such general police-districts into one district, as [it] may think fit.
3. Power to appoint in districts persons to execute duties of Inspector-General. – It shall be lawful for the said [State Government] in each such general police-district to appoint some person or exercise in such district the powers of an Inspector-General of Police, whether such person shall or shall not hold any other office under the [Government]; and the administration of the police throughout such general police-district, and all powers and authorities by [the Police Act, 1861] or any other Act conferred on an Inspector-General of Police, shall be vested in such person.
4. Police establishment in each district to be considered one police-force. – The entire police-establishment in every such district shall, for the purposes of the [Police Act, 1861], be deemed to be one police-force, and shall be formally enrolled, and shall consist of such number of officers and men, and shall be constituted in such manner, [* * * * *] as shall from time to time be ordered by the said [State Government] [* * * *].
[The pay and all other conditions of service of the members of such force below the rank of Deputy Superintendent shall subject to the provisions of the said Act of 1861, be such as may be determined by the [State] Government.]
5. Power to employ police out of district. – It shall be lawful for the [State Government] to employ members of the police-force who have been enrolled in, or appointed to, any one general police-district, in any other general police-district within the [States] subject [* * * *] to [its] control; and the powers conferred on police-officers by the Code of Criminal Procedure, [1898], may be by them exercised in any portion of the said [States] without reference to the local limits of the general police-district to which they may respectively belong.
6. Construction. – This Act shall be read and taken, in the [territories to which it extends] as part of [the Police Act, 1861].
