Court acquits 6 accused of charge of dacoity, offences under Foreigners Act

New Delhi: Acquitting six accused of the charge of dacoity and five of them of the charge of being illegal residents, a court here has observed that in the country's prevailing scenario, it would be a "misuse" of the Foreigners Act to charge "suspected criminals" with "issues relating to citizenship".

Also observing that police, in the first place, lacked diligence in collecting the documents regarding citizenship, the court wondered whether the provisions of the Foreigners Act would have been invoked against the accused if they had any other religious and ethnic identities.

The court was hearing a case against the six accused for allegedly making preparations to commit dacoity and assembling for the said purpose, along with purportedly obstructing and assaulting a police team that apprehended them on the basis of a tip-off.

The incident took place on October 29, 2015 at a park in Geeta Colony here, the prosecution said.

All the accused were charged under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), while two were also charged under sections of the Arms Act.

Five of the accused were charged under section 14 of the Foreigners Act, being suspected as illegal residents in India and originally of Bangladeshi origin.

"Since the prosecution has failed to prove the allegations under any of the articles of charge, all accused are acquitted.... Accused are (also) acquitted under section 14 of the Foreigners Act," Additional Sessions Judge Vishal Gogne said in a recent order.

"The court is yet compelled to make a necessary observation. Issues relating to citizenship, especially in the contemporary context, have undeniably become linked to questions of identity, mostly religious and often ethnic, and this complexity belies the reality of a vast number of residents of India who still do not possess authentic documents related to citizenship," the judge said.

He also said it is "commonly reported" that documents issued by the government, such as driving licences and Aadhaar cards, are being forged with "ease".

"In this scenario, while it may be prima facie valid to charge the accused persons with IPC-related offences including theft, robbery and dacoity, it would be a misuse of section 14 of the Foreigners Act to then also saddle suspected criminals with issues relating to citizenship, especially when diligence is lacking from the police agencies in first collecting the available documents," the judge said.

"Indeed, the court wonders whether section 14 would have been added to the chargesheet if the suspected dacoits had religious and ethnic identities other than the hue they reflect," he added.

Making a preliminary observation on the nature of the principal offences in question — section 399 of the IPC regarding making preparations for committing dacoity and section 402 pertaining to assembling for the purpose of committing dacoity — the court said both penal provisions are of a "classically colonial heritage" when incidents of dacoity were reportedly rampant across the British empire in India.

"While the occurrence of offences punishable under these provisions could not be ruled out as a possibility a century-and-a-half back in time and can also not be placed in the realm of the impossible at present, it does bear observation that these provisions...were designed more to place suspected or undesirable elements behind bars rather than secure conviction on tangible evidence," the court said.

It said it is an "oddity" for contemporary jurisprudence that these provisions continued in the statute.