In attempt to end free run, 'Nyaya' spreads its net to catch snatchers

NEW DELHI: Eighteen-year-old Aniket Goswami was out for a jog around 5.30am on Monday. He had taken out his phone to click a selfie and upload it on his Instagram. At that point, two men on a black bike suddenly appeared, snatched his phone and zoomed off. Goswami approached the police and incidentally became perhaps the first victim in the city whose complaint was filed under the new snatching section in the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).

For decades, there was no law to deal with snatchings in the city. Though a rampant crime which left the victims in shock, the police in Delhi used to register snatchings through a 'jugaad'. In a police-enacted provision, the cops combined the section of theft and that of assault or criminal use of force and filed them under the combined sections '379/356' of the Indian Penal Code. As a result, snatchings in the city remained unchecked.
Now, BNS has a dedicated section for snatching - 304. A theft, the section says, is snatching if the offender suddenly or quickly or forcibly seizes or secures or grabs or takes away from any person or from his possession any movable property. It has a punishment for a term which may extend to three years, and a fine.
Till now, the absence of a specific law in Delhi was a major issue, but there were other challenges as well. Solving snatching cases has been getting tougher by the day as the criminals are finding new ways to hoodwink the police.
For instance, gold chains, which constitute over one-fourth of total snatchings, are melted soon after they are snatched, making it difficult to catch the criminals and recover or link the case property. Mobile phones, which comprise half of the snatchings, are now being kept switched off for a long time which makes the task of tracking them even more difficult. After a few months, most crooks get their IMEI numbers changed and sell it in the grey market.
According to cops, factors like easy bail and failure of the test identification parade -- snatchers mostly cover their faces while committing the crime -- adds to their woes. This often results in a poor conviction rate.
Even with BNS, the problem is unlikely to get fully addressed unless the cops go the extra mile and treat this crime as priority, several retired senior cops pointed out. A few years ago, Delhi Police had conducted a study to identify patterns in this crime and found that half of the snatchings that had been reported in the city were from just 37 police station areas. About 85% of the incidents were recorded in 96 police stations in the capital and 21 stations had reported no incidents in 2017. The study had also revealed that 94% of criminals arrested for the offence were first-timers. Delhi Police had also formed anti-snatching cells in districts.
Some investigators also pointed out that the punishment for snatching in BNS should have been seven years instead of three years.
"Haryana had realised the menace of this crime a decade ago and enacted two new sections - 379A & B - to the IPC dedicated to snatching. It made snatching non-bailable and punishable up to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment. So, there should have been seven years of punishment for snatchings," an investigator said.