3rd class but will apply to Honorary Magistrates of the first class.
13. Sessions Judges may permit Civil Judges exercising
criminal powers to visit the school.-- The power granted above
to Commissioners has been delegated to District and Sessions Judges,
who may permit Civil Judges who are also Magistrates of the Ist
class to visit the Reformatory School, ... but one visit only not
exceeding two days, may be allowed in each case.
PART D -- BORSTAL JAIL
Attention is drawn to the Punjab Government Circular No.
362-J.L. 39/4621 (H-Jails), dated the 4th February 1939, on the
subject of Borstal Jail extracts from which are given below:-
1. Intended for the adolescent convicts of habitual type.--
Cases have come to the notice of Government which indicate that
misunderstanding still exists in the minds of some Magistrates and
officials in regard to the nature of Borstal training and the type
of offender to be sent to the Borstal Institution. Some officials
appear to believe that the institution is no more than a Jail in
which conditions are easier than in the ordinary prison; that
Borstal is merely an up-to-date term for a juvenile Jail. In some
quarters indeed it seems to be imagined that unless there is an
order for Borstal treatment a juvenile convict will be made to serve
his sentence in association with adult prisoners. The Punjab Borstal
Act 1926 ... provides a special kind of treatment for a particular
class of offender; namely, the adolescent convict of habitual type
or (to use the English prison phraseology) the young recidivist.
2. Sentence suitable for different kinds of youthful
offenders.-- Speaking broadly the types of course overlap-there
are three categories of young offenders for whom provision has to be
made:-
(a) Casual offenders, other
than those convicted of heinous crime.
(b) Juveniles sentenced for
offences of a comparatively minor character, but who
are former convicts or are otherwise known to be
tending towards a life of crime.
(c) Juveniles sentenced for murder and other
flagrant offences.
Juvenile offenders of type (a) should normally
be released on probation of good conduct or after admonition. In
more serious cased where such treatment appears unsuitable there
will perhaps be a sentence of whipping or fine. As has been
repeatedly emphasized, short sentences of imprisonment are always to
be avoided, and the juvenile offender should never be sent to jail,
even for a second offence, if his case can be adequately dealt with
in some other way. Offenders of type (c) present a special problem,
to which reference will be made later in this chapter. There remains
type (b). It is for this class of convicts that the Borstal
Institutions is intended--the young hooligan or waster on whom
perhaps a previous warning has had no effect and who appears likely
unless reformative treatment is quickly applied, to develop into a
professional criminal. It is not essential, before an order is
passed for detention in a Borstal Institution, that a previous
conviction should be established but in the language of section 6 of
the Punjab Act there must be "criminal habits or tendencies or
association with persons of bad
character". In view of this wording it would be permissible to order
Borstal detention, for instance, in the case of lad of sixteen or
seventeen who had been associated with older men in a burglary or
dacoity, provided that he had not been personally concerned in
murder or some similar offence. But it would not be proper to use
the Act in a rape case, unless there was reason to believe that the
offender had been responsible for similar outrages before, or had
been misled by bad companionship.
3. Distinguishing features of Borstal treatment. Release on
licence.-- The characteristics which distinguish Borstal
treatment from ordinary imprisonment are two:-
(i) An order of Borstal
detention must always be for an extended period-a
period longer than for which the offender would have
been sent to jail if he had been sentenced in the
ordinary way. In the Punjab Act a minimum of two
years is prescribed. The period must be sufficient
to enable the good influences which it is hoped to
bring to bear on the convict to have their effect.
(ii) After a certain period in
the Borstal Institution the offender will normally
be released to serve the balance of his term on
probation outside. Other classes of prisoners can,
of course, be released on probation by order of the
provincial Government under the Good Conduct
Prisoners Probational Release Act, 1926, or under
section 401 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. In
the case of Borstal detenue, however, release on
probation can be ordered by the Visiting Committee,
subject to the sanction of the Director of Borstal
Institutions, without reference to Government.
Release on licence is thus an integral feature
of Borstal treatment. The young criminal is to be subjected for an
extended period to reformative influences: first within the walls of
the institution, where he will be in contact with a house master,
taking a close personal interest in his character and development;
and afterwards on licence outside, where a probation officer will
fulfil a similar function.
4. Primary object of keeping such offenders in Borstal
Jail.-- Such an automatic system of probational release would
clearly be unsuitable for prisoners of type (c) mentioned
above-juveniles sentenced for homicide or other flagrant offences.
For the most part the offenders in this class have brought
themselves within the reach of the law by a single violent act. They
have no tendency to-wards crime in general, and if it were possible
to concentrate exclusively on the reformation of the individual,
disregarding all other considerations, the most suitable treatment
in many cases would be immediate release. The primary object in
keeping them in confinement is, ... "to satisfy the public
indignation with regard to the serious character of the crime which
calls for punishment". The need for bringing good influences to bear
should always be kept in mind, but with offenders of this type the
reformative aspect of imprisonment must be secondary. In some cases
it may be possible to release the prisoner on probation after a
certain period in jail, but this is permitted only under the orders
of the Provincial Government. Adolescent prisoners of this type are
thus radically different from those for whom the Borstal system has
been devised. They must of course be kept separate form adult
convicts, but their sentences are to be served in jail, not in a
Borstal Institution.
5. When offenders should be sent to the Borstal Institution
and when to the Reformatory School.-- ... Magistrates may at
times feel a doubt whether a particular offender should be sent to
the Borstal Institution or to the Reformatory School. Such doubts
can generally be resolved by considering the age of the offender.
The School ... established under the Reformatory School Act, 1897,
is intended for younger type of offenders than that for which the
Borstal Institution caters. To be sent to the Reformatory School the
offenders must at the time of conviction be under fifteen: the
corresponding age in the case of the Borstal Institution is twenty
one. Cases sometimes occur in which it is necessary to sentence boys
of only ten or twelve years of age to imprisonment. In such cases
the Reformatory School is always to be preferred: children of this
age would be quite out of place in the Borstal Institution. The
School also differs form the Borstal in the character of the
training given to the inmates. The Borstal Institution has of
course, its school, as well as the factories in which the lads are
given vocational training, but the educational arrangements are much
more elaborate. The boys there are of ordinary school age, and an
education is provided for them which would hardly be suitable for
the older adolescents in the Borstal. It may be mentioned here that
in the case of admissions to the Reformatory School there is no such
distinction between casual and habitual offenders as there is in the
case of the Borstal Institution. Whereas there is an absolute bar
against the use of the Borstal Act in the case of juveniles
convicted of offences punishable with death, the School will receive
even this type of juvenile offender, with the special permission of
the Provincial Government.
CHAPTER 23
HABITUAL OFFENDERS
PART A
-- PREVENTIVE MEASURES
Preventive measures
against habitual offenders.-- The
Criminal Procedure Code provides for preventive measures of two
kinds against habitual offenders. Under section 110, security can be
taken for their good behaviour (vide Chapter 3, Security Cases)
....for a period extending upto five years in the event of
their conviction in certain offences. In the Punjab another
important remedy is provided by the "Restriction of Habitual
Offenders Act 1918 (V of 1918). Under this Act an habitual offender
can be restricted in his movements to a certain area or required to
report himself at times and places in the manner prescribed in the
order. An order of restriction may be passed in the same
circumstances in which an order for security for good behaviour may
be passed, but both orders cannot be made against a person at the
same time ( cf. section 7 of the Act). The procedure to be followed
in proceedings under this Act is mostly the same as that in
proceedings under section 110 of the Code of Criminal Procedure1898;
but there are certain differences. For instance, when an order of
restriction for a period of more than one year is passed by a
Magistrate, the order of restriction does not require any
confirmation by the Sessions Judge. Care should be taken to see that
the order of restriction is in conformity with the rules framed by
the Provincial Government under the Act (vide part F of this
Chapter). An order directing a person not to leave his house between
8 p.m. and 5 a.m. was held in 8 I.L.R. Lah. 267, to be ultravires,
not being in conformity with the aforesaid rules. District
Magistrates have power to substitute an order of restriction in lieu
of an order for security under section 110, of the said Code in any
case coming to their notice on appeal or otherwise. Sessions Judges
can make a similar order in cases submitted to them under section
123 (2) of the said Code.
An order of restriction is especially suitable
in the case of habitual offenders who are not in a position to
furnish security and in whose case an order for security under
section 110 of the said Code would necessitate their commitment to
jail.
PART B -- SENTENCES
1. Enhanced punishment under section 75 Pakistan Penal
Code.- Under section 75 of the Pakistan Penal Code, a person
convicted a second time of an offence punishable under Chapter XII
or Chapter XVII of the code, with three years' imprisonment and
upwards is liable to a greatly enhanced sentence.
2. Procedure for Magistrates not competent to award enhanced
punishment.- This of course, does not increase the competence of
the Court trying the offender; but section 348 of the Code of
Criminal Procedure gives the Magistrate a discretion to try the case
himself, if in his opinion, an adequate sentence can be passed by
him. If the Magistrate is unable adequately to punish the accused
person, he should send such person to the Court of Session or High
court.
3.
Omitted.
4. Procedure when Magistrate cannot punish adequately.--
Where a Magistrate finds he is unable to punish an offender
adequately, he should under section 347 of the Code of Criminal
Procedure, send the case for trial to the Court of Session or High
Court.
5. Enhanced punishment not obligatory.-- Although section
75 of the Pakistan Penal Code makes a previous convict in certain
classes of cases liable to enhanced punishment, it is of course, not
obligatory to impose an enhanced sentence in every case of this
description. In deciding whether an enhanced sentence under this
section is needed and whether the case should be sent to a ...
Magistrate empowered under section 30 of the Code of Criminal
Procedure or committed to the Sessions Court, the Magistrate should
fully consider all the circumstances of the present offence as well
as the past convictions.
Enhanced punishment not
suitable in petty cases or in cases of old convictions.--
Ordinarily, cases of petty nature (e.g., thefts of small quantities
of food, clothes, utensils etc.) should be left to First Class
Magistrate, unless the nature, number and sequence of previous
convictions and the sentences previously undergone clearly show the
necessity of a higher sentence than two years' imprisonment.
Similarly, very old convictions (e.g., when the offence is committed
say, more than five years after the last release of the offender
from jail) should not ordinarily be made a ground, for imposing an
enhanced penalty under this section in the absence of special
reasons.
Case of organized crimes.--
Cases of organized crime stand on a different footing, and where the
offence under trial and the previous offences are of this
description greater weight must be attached to them.
Enhanced punishment suitable when previous
convictions indicate a criminal habit which needs to be checked by
deterrent punishment.-- The General
principle to be borne in mind is that section 75 is meant to be used
as a deterrent only when the punishment provided for the offence
itself is considered to be inadequate in view of the antecedents of
the offender. The judgments in the previous cases should be referred
to freely in order to ascertain the real character of the offender
and the section should not be resorted to unless the previous
convictions indicate a criminal habit or instinct which needs to be
checked by a punishment higher than that provided for the offence.
It should also be remembered that a moderate
sentence or an order of restriction under the Restriction of
Habitual Offenders Act, is generally a better way of dealing with
habitual offenders than the imposition of long term of imprisonment.
6. Previous conviction for attempts to commit an offence not
covered by Section 75, Pakistan Penal Code.-- ... Previous
convictions for attempts to commit offences specified in section 75
or a security order under section 110, Criminal Procedure Code, do
not bring an offender within the scope of section 75, Pakistan Penal
Code.
7. Omitted.
8. Action to be taken by Magistrate of 2nd or 3rd Class when
he cannot award adequate punishment.- Section 349 of the Code of
Criminal Procedure gives a Magistrate of the second or third Class
the means of securing the proper punishment of an accused when he
finds, in the course of the trial, that the maximum sentence which
he is empowered to inflict would be insufficient. At the same time,
in resorting to this section, it must be remembered that, when the
accused appears to be a habitual offender and the Magistrate thinks
that he ought to receive more severe punishment than he is competent
to inflict, he should forward the accused to a Magistrate of the Ist
Class specially empowered in this behalf by the Provincial
Government.
9. Duty of the Police to prove previous conviction. Discovery
of previous conviction after Judgment has been pronounced.- It
is the duty of the Police, in conducting the investigation, to take
proper steps to establish the identity of an accused person and to
obtain and produce evidence of previous convictions against him for
the discovery, subsequent to sentence, that the prisoner was a
previous convict, but that this had escaped notice on account of a
change of name is not in itself a ground for interference on appeal
or revision.
10. Previous convictions to be noted on the warrant of
commitment and in a separate statement. Note on the warrant when
the identity of the prisoner has not been proved or he declines to
give an account of himself.-- In Punjab Government Circular No.
43-1077, dated the 29th July, 1870, the Criminal Courts of the
Province were instructed to enter any previous conviction or
convictions of prisoner upon the warrant committing him to jail, and
the attention of all Magistrates is directed to these instructions.
In the form of warrant of commitment prescribed for use under the
Code of Criminal Procedure, provision had been made for mention of
the fact that the convict has been previously convicted, when one or
more previous convictions have been proved against him at his trial,
and for the entry of the particulars of the previous convictions in
a separate statement, which should be attached to the warrant of
commitment in such cases.
The Magistrates, when committing a prisoner to jail, will enter a
note in red ink on the warrant of commitment, in cases where the
identity of the prisoner has not been satisfactorily ascertained, or
he declines to give an account of himself.
PART C -- DEFINITION AND CLASSIFICATION OF HABITUAL CRIMINALS
Persons liable to be classified as habitual criminals.--
The [Federal] Government has framed the following rules defining and
prescribing the treatment of "habitual criminals" for the purposes
of jail discipline:-
I.-- The
following persons shall be liable to
be classified as "habitual criminals", namely:-
(i) Any person convicted of an
offence punishable under Chapter XII, XVII, and
XVIII of the Pakistan Penal Code, whose previous
conviction or convictions, taken in conjunction with
the facts of the present case, show that he is by
habit a robber, house-breaker, dacoit, thief or
receiver of stolen property, or that he habitually
commits extortion, cheating, counterfeiting coin,
currency notes or stamps, or forgery.
(ii) Any person convicted of an
offence punishable under Chapter XVI of the Pakistan
Penal Code, whose previous conviction or
convictions, taken in conjunction with the facts of
the present case, show that he habitually commits
offences against the person.
(iii) Any person committed to
or detained in prison under section 123 (read with
section 109 or section 110) of the Code of Criminal
Procedure.
(iv) Any person convicted of
any of the offences specified in (i) above when it
appears from the facts of the case, even although no
previous conviction has been proved, that he is by
habit a member of a gang of dacoits, or of thieves
or a dealer in slaves or in stolen property.
(v) Any member of a criminal
tribe, subject to the description of the Provincial
Government concerned.
(vi) Any person convicted of an
offence and sentenced to imprisonment under the
corresponding sections of the Pakistan Penal Code,
and the Code of Criminal Procedure.
(vii) Any person convicted by a
Court or Tribunal acting outside Pakistan under the
general or special authority of the *[Federal]
Government of an offence which would have rendered
him liable to be classified as a habitual criminal
if he had been convicted in a Court established in
Pakistan.
Explanation:- For purpose of this definition
the word "conviction" shall include an order made under section 118,
read with section 110, of the Criminal Procedure Code.
II.-- Classifying authority. Right of prisoner for revision
of the order of classification.-- The classification of a
convicted person as a habitual criminal should ordinarily be made by
the convicting Court, but if the convicting Court omits to do so,
such classification may be made by the District Magistrate, or in
the absence of an order by the convicting Court or District
Magistrate, and pending the result of a reference to the District
Magistrate, by the officer incharge of the jail where such convicted
person is confined: provided that any person classed as a habitual
criminal may apply for a revision of the order.
III.-- Power of District Magistrate or convicting Court not
to classify certain convicts as habitual criminals.-- The
convicting Court or the District Magistrate may, for reasons to be
recorded in writing, direct that any convicted person or any person
committed to or detained in prison under section 123 read with
section 109 or section 110 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, shall
not be classed as a habitual criminal and may revise such direction.
IV.-- Revision of classification.-- Convicting Courts or
District Magistrates, as the case may be, may revise their own
classifications, and the District Magistrate may alter any
classification of a prisoner made by a convicting Court or any other
authority; provided that the alteration is made on the basis of
facts which were not before such Court or authority.
Note:-
The expression "District Magistrate" wherever it
occurs in paragraphs II, III and IV above means the
District Magistrate of district in which the
criminal was convicted, committed or detained.
V.-- Habitual Criminal to be kept in a special jail.-- Every
habitual criminal shall as far as possible be confined in a special
jail in which no prisoner other than habitual criminal shall be
kept: provided that the Inspector-General of Prisons may transfer to
this special Jail any prisoner not being a habitual criminal whom,
for reasons to be recorded in writing, he believes to be of so
vicious or depraved a character, and to exercise or to be likely to
exercise, so evil an influence on his fellow prisoners that he ought
not to be confined with other non-habitual prisoners, but a prisoner
so transferred shall not otherwise be subject to the special rules
affecting habitual criminals. (Government of India Resolution No.
F.III-Jail, dated 15th September 1922).
VI:-- Member of criminal tribe defined.-- With reference
to rule 1(v) above, the Provincial Government has defined "a member
of a criminal tribe" as follows:-
"A registered member of a criminal tribe who is convicted of any of
the offences specified in rule 28 of the Rules under the Criminal
Tribes Act, viz.-
(a) section 109 or 110 of the Criminal Procedure Code;
(b) non bailable offence described in Chapter XII
and XVII of the Pakistan Penal Code; and
(c) offences under the Criminal Tribes Act, 1911
unless the convicting Magistrate otherwise directs".
VII.-- Convicting officer to decide about classification and
should note it on the warrant.-- Whenever a person is sentenced
to imprisonment for an offence, the Magistrate or Judge who passes
the sentence should determine whether the prisoner is to be classed
as a habitual criminal or otherwise, and should endorse the words
"habitual" or "non-habitual", as the case may be, on the warrant of
commitment, and sign such endorsement.
VIII.-- Statement of previous conviction should be attached
to warrant.-- If the prisoner has been previously convicted, a
statement containing the particulars of the previous convictions
should be attached to the warrant of commitment.
PART D -- RESIDENCE OF RELEASED CONVICTS
Copy of order under Section 565, Criminal Procedure Code to
be sent to jail.-- In every case in which an order under section
565 of the Criminal Procedure Code is made, directing that the
person sentenced to imprisonment shall notify his residence and any
change of residence after release, a copy of such order should be
transmitted by the Court passing the sentence and order, with the
warrant of commitment issued under section 384 of the Code, to the
officer in charge of the jail or other place in which the prisoner
is, or is to be, confined. Attention is also invited to the
following rules:-
NOTIFICATION
The 6th March, 1931.
No. 7335.--
In exercise of the powers conferred by subsection (3) of section 565
of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898, the Governor-in-Council is
pleased to make the following rules regulating the notification of
residence or change of or absence from, residence by released
convicts in regard to whom an order has been made under subsection
(1) of section 565 of the said Code.
Punjab Government notification No. 395
(Home-Judicial), dated the 13th March 1901, is hereby cancelled.
RULES
I. Released convicts to observe rules.--
When, at the time of passing sentence of transportation or
imprisonment on any person, the Court or Magistrate also orders that
his residence and any change of residence after release be notified
for the term specified in such order, such person shall comply with
and be subject to the rules next following. In these rules a person
released subject to an order of the nature herein before described
is called a "released convict."
II. Released convict to notify, at the time of release,
intended place of residence to releasing officer.-- Every
convict in regard to whom an order has been made under section 565
of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898, shall, not less than
fourteen days before the date on which he is entitled to be
released, notify the officer incharge of the jail, or other place in
which he may for the time being be confined, of the place at which
he intends to reside after his release.
III. Released convict to notify intention to change first
residence at local Police Station.-- Whenever any released
convict intends to change his place of residence, from the place
which he specified at the time of his release as the place at which
he intended to reside, to any other place, he shall notify the fact
of such intention and the place at which he hereafter intends to
reside, not less than twenty-four hours before he so changes his
residence, to the officer in charge of the Police Station within the
jurisdiction of which he resides at the time when he notifies his
intention to change his residence.
IV. Released convict to similarly notify all subsequent
intentions to change residence.-- Whenever any released convict
intends to change his place of residence from any place at which he
may, at any time, be residing, under the provisions of Rule III, he
shall notify any intended change of residence in the manner in that
rule provided.
V. Period to be appointed for taking up residence.- In
default the convict to notify his actual residence.-- The
Officer recording a notification under rule II, rule III or rule IV,
shall appoint such period as may be reasonably necessary to enable
the convict to take up his residence in the place notified. If the
convict does not take up his residence in such place within the
period so appointed he shall, not later than the day following the
expiry of such period, notify in person his actual place of
residence to the officer in charge of the Police Station within the
limits of which he is residing.
VI. Released convict to notify the fact of his having
actually taken up his residence at the place specified under
preceding rules.-- Every released convict shall, within
twenty-four hours of his arrival at the place of residence notified
under rule II or rule III or rule IV, notify the fact of such
arrival to the officer in charge of the Police Station within the
jurisdiction of which such place of residence is situate.
VII. Particulars of place of residence to be supplied.--
In notifying places of residence under these rules released convict
shall--
(a) if the place of residence is in a rural
tract--specify the name of the village,
hamlet, or locality of such place, and the
Jail, thana, tahsil and district within the
limits of which such place is situate;
(b) if the place of residence is in a town
or city--specify the name of the town or
city and the street, quarter and
sub-division of the town or city within the
limits of which such place is situate.
VIII. Manner of notifying changes of residence.-- Every
notification, to be made by a released convict under rules III, IV
and VI, respectively, shall be made by such convict personally at
the proper Police Station:
Provided that--
(a) the District Magistrate
may, by order in writing, exempt any released
convict from the operation of this rule and may
permit such convict to make such notifications in
writing or in such other manner as the District
Magistrate may, in such order, prescribe in that
behalf;
(b) if from illness or other
unavoidable cause, any released convict is prevented
from making any notification required by these rules
personally at the proper Police Station, he may do
so by written communication addressed to the officer
in charge of the proper Police Station. Such
communication shall state the cause of his inability
to attend in person at the Police Station, and
shall, before it is transmitted to the proper Police
Officer, be attested by a village headman or other
village officer.
Note 1:-
Subsidiary Rules issued by the Police
Department will be found in Appendix 28--39
(I) to the Punjab Police Rules, Volume II.
Note 2:-
Rules made by the Punjab Government in
exercise of the powers conferred by Section
16 of the Restriction of Habitual Offenders
(Punjab) Act, 1918 (V of 1918), are
published in Punjab Government Notification
No. 9853, dated the 29th April, 1918.
PART E -- IDENTIFICATION OF RE-CONVICTED PRISONERS
1. Introductory.-- At the request of the Provincial
Government the following instructions are issued with a view to
insuring the proper recognition of re-convicted prisoners for the
purpose of jail discipline.
2. Descriptive roll of the convict.-- According to the
existing practice in this Province, the descriptive roll of each
person sent up by the police for trial is retained in the office of
the Magistrate and filed with the Judicial record of the case. Under
instruction of the Central Government, it is necessary that a
descriptive roll of every prisoner arrested by the police should be
prepared at the station-house and be sent up with the prisoner to
the Magistrate, and that this roll, in the event of the final
conviction of the prisoner by the Magistrate, should be copied in a
register kept up in the jail for the purpose.
3. Charge sheet to be sent up by police.-- As in the
Punjab the descriptive roll is embodied in the charge sheet sent up
by the police, all that appears to be required is that the charge
sheet, instead of being at once filed with the magisterial records
of the case, should accompany the warrant of commitment to the jail,
that the descriptive roll of the prisoner should be copied into the
jail register, and that thereafter the charge sheet should be
returned to the Magistrate.
4. Charges to be sent to jail.-- Magistrates are,
therefore, instructed to forward the charge sheet, with the warrant
of commitment, to the Superintendent of the Jail, who will be
directed by the Inspector General of Prisons to cause the
descriptive roll to be copied from the charge sheet into the
appropriate jail register. The Superintendent will then return the
charge sheet to the Magistrate.
The 29th April 1918.
Appellant.
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PART B. -- THE SUBMISSION OF RECORDS TO THE HIGH COURT FOR
PURPOSES OF REVISION.