Wrote to Centre to amend law: AAP govt

New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government has told the Delhi high court that it has written to the Centre to consider amending the penal provisions to deal with the serious issue of chain snatching in the national capital.  

A two-judge bench of acting chief justice Gita Mittal and justice C. Hari Shankar asked the Union ministry of home affairs to positively file a status report on the action taken by it on the letter written by the government.

The Delhi government’s additional standing counsel Gautam Narayan informed the bench that Haryana and Punjab have made chain snatching a separate offence after amending the law. He said the Delhi government has written a letter to the ministry to take action on it, but it has not received any response yet.

The court was hearing a petition filed by advocate Prashant Manchanda, who has alleged that chain snatchings in the city have seen a six-fold rise leading to a “fear psychosis” in the minds of citizens as well as tourists who are not left alone by the perpetrators.

The court, which listed the matter for next  hearing on August 1, noted that the petition raised a serious concern of the offence of chain snatching in Delhi.

The petitioner  told the court that the Delhi police was booking the offenders of such a crime in a routine manner under milder provisions, which entail a punishment of only up to three years. He said even without a specific offence under the law to make snatching a separate offence, the offenders could be booked under Section 390 (robbery) of the Indian Penal Code as it uses the word “fear of wrongful restraint” and carries a jail term of up to 10 years.

The court asked the Delhi police to examine the issue, while considering this aspect.

It had earlier issued a notice to the Delhi government, the police and the municipal corporations and sought their replies to the plea, which also contended that various parks in the city were the “hubs” of such crimes and the criminal elements frequented such places due to lack of vigilance.

The petition  has claimed that on an average, there were 25 snatching  cases daily in the national capital due to the “absence of effective laws” and “indifference” of the police, which book the offenders under “trivial provisions”

It said:  “Many incidents of chain snatching entail serious wounds and also involve use of deadly weapons, leading to fatal injuries or death of the victims.”