The former police chief of Uttar Pradesh, Vikram Singh, on Thursday approached the Supreme Court for a direction to quash all the FIRs registered incessantly for disobeying orders on lockdown and other petty offences during the coronavirus crisis.
These cases are the result of circumstances against the poor and downtrodden who are not having 'mens rea' (criminal intent), he maintained.
"Coronavirus has caused a global pandemic, in which every person is suffering. The situation needs to be handled humanely, and it will be best to avoid adding aspects of criminality, wherever possible," he added.
Chairman of a think tank 'Centre for Accountability and Systemic Change' (CASC), Singh submitted that registering of FIRs incessantly under Section 188 (disobeying order by public servant) of the IPC was "antithesis to Rule of
Law, and violated Article 14 and 21 of the Constitution". He cited Section of 195 of the Criminal Procedure Code, saying it mandated that only a Magistrate can take cognizance of an offence under Section 188 IPC and that too on a complaint submitted by a public servant.
"In these extraordinary times, the courts have taken many steps which have relaxed the normal processes with respect to paper filing, affidavits, personal presence and hearings etc. In the same breath, it is very important to put a check on the burgeoning number of FIRs being filed in petty cases," his plea stated.
Singh asked the court to issue directions under the Disaster Management Act, 2005 to the various state governments to refrain from filing complaints or registering FIRs under Section 188 or other petty offences.
The petition settled by senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayana submitted that FIRs under Section 188 of the IPC were being incessantly filed for trivial offences, which would have to go through their own process, eventually burdening the police, jails and whole criminal justice system.
"Shockingly", 848 such FIRs have been registered in Delhi alone.
"If this is the situation in the national capital, the situation in other parts of the country can very well be imagined," he contended, adding in as per the Uttar Pradesh government’s own admission, 15,378 FIRs under Section 188 have been registered in Uttar Pradesh against 48,503 persons.
"When the whole economy is going through India’s biggest emergency, burdening up the criminal justice system with more cases is not going to help anyone," his plea stated.
He contended apprehending poor people during the lockdown would add to the burden of the police. People who are without a job or livelihood and are forced to be out, should not be treated as criminals, Singh said in his petition.
"At a time when the Supreme Court has put a special emphasis on decongesting the prisons, filing of FIRs for trivial offence, does not make any sense. It is a well-known fact that jails are the places where first time petty offenders may become hardened criminals," he added.