New Delhi: With the new criminal laws taking effect nationwide on Monday, the first FIR was lodged against a street vendor for obstructing a road near the New Delhi Railway Station. The accused, Pankaj Kumar, a native of Patna in Bihar, was selling gutkha and water bottles.
According to the cops, Pankaj's makeshift stall was obstructing the road, and despite repeated requests to move it, he refused to comply. Subsequently, the police filed an FIR under Section 285 of the new criminal code. The section states, "Whoever, by doing any act, or by omitting to take order with any property in his possession or under his charge, causes danger, obstruction or injury to any person in any public way or public line of navigation, shall be punished with fine which may extend to Rs 5,000."
The police said an incident was reported at 12:15 am against Pankaj, who allegedly obstructed a public way to sell goods at a foot overbridge near the New Delhi station. "The sub-inspector on parol duty asked the man several times to remove the stall from the road, but he did not comply. The inspector asked several passers-by to join the probe, but they refused. Then he shot a video using the 'e-praman' application and registered a case at 1.30 am," the FIR added.
The app, handled by the Delhi Police's Crime Branch, will directly feed the content to police records for further investigation, an officer said.
The Delhi Police has imparted training to its 30,000 personnel -- from the ranks of assistant sub-inspectors and inspectors to assistant commissioners and deputy commissioners -- who are responsible for registering FIRs and conducting investigations on the new criminal laws.
The three new criminal codes - The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (BSA) – came into force on Monday replacing the British-era Indian Penal Code, Code of Criminal Procedure and the Indian Evidence Act, respectively.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who piloted the laws, had said the new laws would give priority to providing speedy justice, unlike the colonial-era laws that gave primacy to penal action. However, cases filed earlier will continue to be tried under the old laws till their final disposal.
(With Agency inputs)