Aiming to check crime against women in public places, the Uttar Pradesh government is considering to amend criminal law and ensure strict punishment for chain-snatchers.
The UP Law Commission has submitted a report to the state government recommending up to 14-year imprisonment for chain-snatchers, a highly-placed source said in Lucknow on Saturday. Maintaining that strict steps were needed for ensuring the safety of women, the Law Commission report recommended imprisonment of 3 to 14 years and fine for such criminals.
The Commission said that there is no separate provision for such offense in the law, so there should be provisions for punishment in chain snatching cases by adding the word ‘snatching’ with theft in Section 410 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The Commission also recommended for confiscation of property for those who buy such property, treat them as accused and mete out punishment, by amending Sections 411 to 413 of the IPC. It maintained that the state legislature was competent to amend the IPC and it could implement the amended law by passing the Criminal Law Amendment Bill in the Assembly.
According to the Law Commission, there has been a steady rise in cases of chain snatching and pointed out that there were 827 cases of chain-snatching registered in 2015, 1025 in 2016, 1098 in 2017, 1425 in 2018 and 1233 in 2019 across the state. Criminals from Delhi were carrying out such incidents in Moradabad, Bulandshahr, Aligarh and Meerut of UP. Besides, chain snatching cases were the highest in Ghaziabad, Kanpur, Varanasi, Bahraich, Lakhimpur Kheri, Fatehgarh, Jhansi, Mathura, Mainpuri, Aligarh and Bareilly.
