Those who live in Kolkata and have been declared as “proclaimed offender” by the court have a new reason to worry. The city police is all set to implement a relatively new section under the Indian Penal Code under which a proclaimed offender might have to face upto a maximum of seven additional years of punishment depending upon the nature of his crime.
In a meeting held at the Kolkata police (KP) headquarters in Lal Bazar on Wednesday, it was decided to involve all the sections of the detective department and the 48 police stations in the process. “The first step would be to make police officials aware about this additional section (174A of the IPC) that can be tagged with the original case once the accused is declared a proclaimed offender,” revealed a senior officer.
As per the law, the investigating agency can submit a prayer before the court in case a warrant against an accused remains pending atleast for over a month. Thereafter, if the court grants the plea and the accused continues to be absconding, a fresh appeal to declare him as proclaimed offender can be made before the magistrate.
Once a person is declared a proclaimed offender by the magistrate during his trial, section 174A will be tagged with the original sections. The quantum of punishment might be increased by seven or three years depending upon the nature of his crime. “Fearing the additional punishment, the accused person may try to avoid becoming proclaimed offender and surrender,” the officer added. The initiative to implement this section was first taken by the central division of the KP.