215. Action against proclaimed offender-

Whenever an officer-incharge of a police station, or an officer making an investigation under Chapter XII of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (2 of 1974) is satisfied that a person whom he is empowered to arrest under Section 41 (1) of the Code has absconded or is concealing himself so that he cannot be arrested, he must apply to the Court having jurisdiction, successively, for a warrant of arrest, a proclamation under Section 82 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (2 of 1974) and an order of attachment under Section 83/84. All these applications should be made as early as may be desirable in the particular case; they need not be delayed for the conclusion of an investigation; and a warrant of arrest, a proclamation and an order of attachment may all legally be issued one after the other in their proper order on the same day. The officer who asks a Court to issue a proclamation must be prepared to produce legal evidence to prove that the person whose arrest desired has absconded, and must not accept the mere statement or report of an officer who has no personal knowledge of the absconding to satisfy the Court. When an order of attachment is issued he must satisfy himself that it is efficiently executed.

216. Absconded offer-

Any person for whose appearance a proclamation has been issued under Section 82 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (2 of 1974) is an absconded offender within the meaning of this Chapter.

217. Types of absconded offenders-

Absconded offenders shall be divided into two classes : A and B; class A will include all absconders whose names, caste, residence, and antecedents have been verified beyond all possibility of doubt; class B consists only of those persons whose real names, residence and antecedents have not been ascertained.

Note- All escaped transmarine convicts should be registered automatically as absconded offenders of class A.

218. Register at every police station for absconded offenders-

At every police station a register shall be maintained in Form No. 214, in which shall be entered the names and full particulars of all absconded offenders in both cognizable and non-cognizable cases, persons, coming under A and B being separately shown. Every absconded offender of class A shall be shown in the register of every police station in which he has a wife, father, mother, son, daughter, brother or sister living, as well as in the registers of the police stations (1) in which he was living himself and (2) in which the offence for which he is wanted was commented. It is the duty of the Superintendent of the district in which the offence was committed to inform the Superintendent of other districts in which the offender sought to be registered on account of residence or relationship; and it shall be the duty of those Superintendents to register the names of the absconders in their districts on receiving such information. Absconders of class B need be registered only at station where the offences in which they were concerned were committed.

Column 17 of this register should be kept up-to-date, and the station officer must inform the Superintendent whenever a relation or associate of an absconded offender changes his address. The Superintendent will pass on his information to all other districts or police stations concerned, if the offence for which the offender is wanted was committed to his district; otherwise he will inform the Superintendent in whose district the offence was committed, and the latter officer will then inform all concerned.

219. Public Prosecutor shall maintain a register of whole district for absconded offenders-

The Public Prosecutor shall maintain at headquarters in English a register for the whole district in the same form as the station register, separate parts being allotted to each class and B. His register shall contain the names of only those absconded offenders who are triable in the district, other than those wanted by the Government Railway Police for whom Railway Police Public Prosecutor maintains a register. In the column of remarks of the district annual return of absconded offenders should be shown the number of absconder non-residents of the district concerned, who figure on the Public Prosecutor’s register. 220. Power of Superintendent to expunge the names of absconded offenders- The Superintendent may order names of absconded offender to be expunged for any of the following reasons :

(1) arrest;

(2) ascertained death;

(3) when, owing to the death or disappearance of all important witnesses, and in absence of proceeding under Section 299, Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 (2 of 1974) or for any other reason the evidence against an absconded offender is found to be insufficient for successful prosecution;

(4) the lapse of 30 years in the case absconders of class A and of 5 years in the case of absconders of class B, after the absconder was last heard of alive.

221. Power of DM to expunge the names of absconded offenders-

The District Magistrate may also order the name for any offender triable in his district to the expunged, although the conditions mentioned in the preceding paragraph have not been fulfilled whenever he considers that owing to the insignificance of the offence it is unnecessary to continue the search for the absconder; provided that he shall not thus expunge the name of an offender whose offence is triable exclusively by the Court of Sessions. The District Magistrate shall consider once a year either in connection with the inspection of police stations or by examining the list of absconded offenders, whether any names should be expunged. When the name of an offender has been expunged by the District Magistrate or the Superintendent, he shall not be prosecuted for the same offence otherwise than on complaint, without the sanction of the District Magistrate.

222. Recording of evidence by the Court against the accused person who has absconded-

In all cases in which an accused person has absconded, except those of an exceeding trivial or petty nature or when special circumstances exist, which make the procedure unnecessary or undesirable, the Court should be asked to record the evidence against him under Section 299 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (2 of 1974). The police must, however, register the names of absconders without waiting for proceeding under Section 83 / 84 and 299 to be taken against them. All cases in which for special reasons, evidence has not been recorded under Section 299) must be put up before the Deputy Inspector General at the time of his inspection.

In order to render the evidence, recorded under Section 299 admissible at a future trial it must be provided and put on record that the offender has absconded and there is no immediate prospect of arresting him. The provisions of Section 299) should be carefully studied.