Chinmayanand declared proclaimed offender in rape case

Chinmayanand declared proclaimed offender in rape case

Subject :Polity

Context:  A Special MP/MLA court in Shahjahanpur on Thursday declared former Union minister Chinmayanand a proclaimed offender in an 11-year-old rape case. The court issued the order after Chinmayanand failed to appear in court despite several summons, official sources said.

Proclaimed Offender under CrPC

• In 2005, an amendment was brought to add sub-sections (4) and (5) in Section 82, whereby a person who is accused of serious offences under the Indian Penal Code, 1860, if he fails to appear as per the requirements of the proclamation, the court can declare him a proclaimed offender after inquiring into the matter.
• The CrPC further provides that the declaration of him being a proclaimed offender will also be published in the same way a proclamation is published.
• Section 174A of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, also provides that where a person has been declared a proclaimed offender under Section 82(4) of the CrPC, he shall be liable for a term of imprisonment that may extend to seven years and shall also be liable to fine in tandem with such a punishment.
• The following criminal liability is far greater than what has been inflicted upon a person who fails to appear as per the direction of the proclamation.

Effects of declaring a person as proclaimed offender

• Section 40(1)(b) of the CrPC provides that every officer employed in connection with the affairs of a village, or the residents of the village for that matter, has a duty to communicate to the nearest magistrate or officer in charge of possessing information regarding the place where a proclaimed offender has resorted to.
• Section 41(1)(ii)(c) of the CrPC provides that a police officer can arrest a person who has been declared a proclaimed offender without any warrant.
• Under Section 43 of the CrPC, a private person can arrest a proclaimed offender and present him to the nearest police station.
• Section 73(1) of the CrPC confers power upon the Chief Judicial Magistrate or a Magistrate of First Class to direct a warrant against a proclaimed offender.
• It is pertinent to note that the term proclaimed offender in Section 82 has been added by the 2005 amendment, however, the term has been used in the following sections even before the 2005 amendment.