Bad characters on trains

Present situation falls short of ideal Model Police Manual -coordination of RPF, GRP, district police

Old reports are treasure-troves of information. There was a Report of the Indian Police Commission 1902-03. It is full of ideas about reforming police, including what we would today call GRP and RPF. “It has been proposed that the railway police force should be made an Imperial establishment for the whole of India. The Commission are unable to accept this suggestion. The unit of police administration is the province, and a departure from this principle in the case of the railway police would greatly weaken the co-operation between that force and the district police. It would also render impossible the connection between the railway police and the proposed provincial Criminal Investigation Departments.” The Commission also took note of increasing use by “the criminal classes” of railways and telegraph services. There was an Appendix on rules for registration and surveillance of bad characters. “Those whose history sheets have been begun will be quietly watched and information will be collected about them; but they will not be considered to be under police surveillance until their names have been entered in the special register for that purpose….To secure the most complete cooperation between districts and provinces, information of the movements of bad characters must be communicated promptly. There should be printed forms of Bad Character Rolls in diglott (English and the vernacular of the district), and immediately information is received of the departure or arrival of a bad character one of these rolls should be filled up and sent to the police station to which the bad character is believed to have gone, or from which he is said to have come. If intimation is thus promptly sent and acted upon, much valuable information will be gathered of the movements of bad characters.” 

Expressions like “history-sheeters” and “bad characters” are often used loosely, and synonymously. A “history-sheeter” is obviously someone with a criminal record. But the way I understand it, there are three types of history-sheeters or bad characters, with increasing degrees of severity, from “C” to “A”, and reflecting this, their names are entered in the Surveillance Register. “C” is relatively mild, for instance, someone against whom an arrest warrant has been issued. (This may be someone against whom there is no prior conviction record.)  The “B” list has those who have been convicted twice or more.  There seems to be some subjectivity in identification of “A”.  If you graduate from the “B” list to “A” list, you are regarded as a hardened criminal and are therefore, incurable.  (Note that many States have Habitual Offenders Acts.) According to the Model Police Manual, duties of a beat constable include the following. “Identify through discreet enquiry, observation and verification about habitual offenders, specially dangerous criminals, the nature of crime they are addicted to, or gangs, including members of organized crime syndicates requiring surveillance irrespective of their area of operation; Collect information from or about travellers at camping grounds, choultries, rest-houses, railway premises, ferries and other places of public resort; Enquire the movements/both good and bad activities of all ex-convicts and history sheeted persons specially with reference to their lavish expenditure or of other persons connected with them beyond their normal means.” 

Catch me if you can: Crime on the railways isn’t only about passenger trains. There are good trains, yards, platforms and waiting rooms too

What happens once the beat constable or the police station gets to know about movements of history-sheeters and bad characters? The current Model Police Manual states, “When a history-sheeted person is likely to travel by the Railway, intimation of his movements should also be given to the nearest Railway Police Station.” The 1902-03 Report stated, “The railway police will depute a literate police officer of or above the rank of constable to accompany each passenger train. He will maintain a “train diary” in which he will record information connected with cognizable offences, movements of bad characters and suspects and other matters prescribed by his superior officers.”  The ideal, in the Model Police Manual, speaks of coordination between RPF, GRP (railway police) and district police.  Unfortunately, the present coordination falls far short of the ideal. Crime on the railways isn’t only about passenger trains. There are good trains, yards, platforms and waiting rooms too. 

A senior GRP official recently told me, “We know about gangs who operate on passenger trains. We often know when crimes are being planned.” I was intrigued.  The gangs are of course formed by history-sheeters and bad characters. How is it possible to know when a crime is being planned?  Every criminal now knows that a mobile can be used to track movements.  Therefore, before a contemplated crime, the mobile is switched off.  When a bunch of bad characters collectively switch off their mobiles, bingo!  Evidently, because these are planned and organised crimes, not petty thefts, that bunch of bad characters travels reserved, not unreserved. All one needs to do is to match passenger reservation data with what’s known about bad characters and their mobile (as in telephones) status. However, the GRP official also admitted this was the hardest nut to crack. It was much more difficult than the Report of the Indian Police Commission, 1902-03, contemplated.  Silos must have existed then, but we have had more than a hundred years to perfect them. As a minor point, check out penalties listed for theft in IPC (Indian Penal Code), Sections 378 to 380.  They are higher for dwelling-houses, buildings, tents and vessels. In 1860, vessel meant something that conveyed people or property by water.  It didn’t include trains and this Section hasn’t been amended. 

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The writer is a member of the National Institution for Transforming India Aayog. The views are personal