The Code of Criminal Procedure (Assam Amendment) Act, 1966

The 4th July 1966 No.LJL.31/65/40.-The following Act of the Assam Legislative Assern­ bly which received the assent of the President ~is hereby published for general information. ASSAM ACT XX OF 1966 (Received the assent of the President on the 29th Jone, )966 TI1E CODE OF CR IMINAL PROCEDUR.E (ASSAM AMENDMENT) ACT, 1966 [Publi.hed in tile Assam Gazette Extraordinary, dated the 5th July 1966] An Act further to amend the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 In its application to the State of Assam Preamble. Whereas it is expedient further to amend the Code Act No•.5 of of Criminal Procedure, 1898 (hereinafter referred to 1898. as the Code) in its application to the State of Assam, for the purposes and in the manner hereinafter ap e pearing ; (2) I t shall apply to the State of Assam. (3) It shall come into force on such da te as the State Government may, by notifica tion in t he Offici al Gazette, appoint. . 2 It is hereby enacted in the Seventeenth Year of the Republic of India as follow s :- Short title, 1. (1) This Act may be called th e Code of Criminal extent and Procedure (Assam Amendment) Act, 1966. commence- ment. Amendment 2. I n section 10 of the Code, in sub-section (2),- (1) of section 10 for the words "an Additional District Magistrate" of Act .'10.5 occurring between the words "be" and " and" the of IlUI S d " Add" I D ' . M ' ". wor s one or more it iona istnct ..gtstra tes sha ll be sub stituted ; (2) for the werds "such Additional Di strict Ma­ gistrate" occurring between the words ",md" and '·shdl" the words " an Additional District Magistra te" shall be substituted . Substitution 3. For section 22 of the Code, the following shall be of section 22 substituted, namely r-e- of Act No.5 of 1898. "Appoint- 22. The State Government may, by notifica tion ment of Jus. in the Official Gazette, appoint for such period as may tices of the b e specified in the notificati on and subject to such Puce. rules as m ay be made by the State Government, any - person who is a citizen of India and as to whose integri ty and suitability it is satisfie d, to be a Justice of the Peace for a local are a to be mentioned in the no tification , and more than one J ustice of the Peace may be appointed for the sam e local area . , Expla n ation-In this section and in section 22A and 22B, "local area " means- (a) in a Municipality, a ward a s no tified under Assam .Act the Assam M unicip al Act, 1956, and xv of 1957. (b) elsewhere, the area included in a police station." - Insertion of 4. After section 2.2 of the Code a~ so sub stituted the sections 22A following shall be inserted as sections 22A and 22R, and 22B in namely :- Act No.5 of : 898. . "Powersof 221\. (1) A Justi<;:e of the Peace for a ny local area Justices of shall, for the purpose of making arrest, have within the l'eace, such area all the powers of a'Police Officer referred to in section 54 and of an officer-in- charge of a police ttation referred to in section 55. (a ) (b) 3 (2) A Justice of the Pe ace making an arrest in exercise of any powers u ade r sub-section (l) shall, forthwith take or cause to 1.::: ~;.ken the person arrested before the officer-in-charge of the nearest police stat ion - and furnish such officer with a report as to the circumstances of the a rres t. Such officer shall thereupon re-arrest the person. (3) (i) A J ustice of the Peace for any local area shall have power withi n such are a, to call upon any member of the police force on duty or any Home Guard, to aid him- in taking or preventing the escape of any pe rson who has participated in the commission of any cognizable offence or against whom a reason able complaint has been . made or credible information has been received or a reasonable sus­ picion exists of h is having so participated , in the prevention of crime in general and, in particular, in the prevention of a breach of the peace or a disturbance of the public tranquillity. (ii) Where a member of the police force on duty or any Home Guard has bee n called-upon to render aid under clause (i}, such call shall be deemed- (a) when made upon a member of the police force. to have been made by a compe­ tent authority, ,. (b) when made upon a H ome Gu ard, to have been made by a competent authority calling upon the Home Guard for duty under sub-section (1) of section 7 of the Assam Home guards Act , 1947. Assam Act XXIV of 1947. Explanation-In this section the expression "Home ASlLaRl AcJ Guard" will have the same meaning as in the Assam XXIV of Home Guards Act, 1947. 194-7. - (4) A Justice of the Peace for any local area may, in accordance with such ru les as may be made by the State Government,- (a) issue a cer tifica te as to the identity of any person residing with in such area, or (b) verify any doc ument brought before him by any person, or 4 (c) attest any such document required by or under any law for the time being in force to be attested by a Magistrate, and un til the contrary is proved, any ::ertificate so issued shall be presumed to be correct and any document so veri­ fied shall be deemed to be duly ver ified and any document so attested shall be deemed to have been as fully attested as if he had been a Magistrate. lurie s of 22B.(1) Subject to such rules as may be made by lrsuces of the State Governmen t, every Justice of the Peace for tl.l' Peace. any local area shall- (a) (b) on receipt of information of the occurrence of any incident involving a breach of the peace, or of the commission of any offence within such local area, forthwith make inquiries into the matter and re- ' port in writing the result of his inquiries to the nearest Magistrate and to the officer-in-charge of the nearest police station; if the offence referred to in clause (a) is a cognizable offence, also prevent the removal of anything from or the inter­ ference in any way with, the place of occur rence of th e offence; (c) when so requested in writing by a Po lice Officer making an investigat ion under C hapter X IV in respect of a ny offence committe d within such local area,- (i) render all assistance to the Police Officer making such an investiga tion, (ii) record any statement made under expec­ tation of death by a person in respect of whom a crime Is believed to have been committed. (2) The provisions of sub-section (?) of section 164 relat ing to th e manner of re cording statements shall, as far as may be, apply to th e recording of a statement under sub-clause (ii) of clause (c) of sub­ section (1) as if the statement were recorded by a Magistrate of the first clas••" Repeal of Section 25 of Act No.5 01 1898. Powers of ~i agistrate. Power to 'make nile. 5 5. Section 25 of the Code is hereby repealed . 6. Notwithstanding anything in this Act, Ute State Government may invest any Justice of the Peace with powers - of a third class Magistrate to try such offences as may LJ e prescribed. 7. (1) The State G 0vernment way. by notific at ion in the O fficial Gazette, make rules for carrying out the purposes of thi s Act. (2) Every rule made under this section sha ll be hid as soon as may be after it is made, be fore the Assam T egislative Assembly while it is in session for a tot al period of fourteen 'days which may be comprised in one session or in two succe ssive sessions, and if, before the expiry of the session in which it is so laid or th sessions immediat ely following th e Assam Legisla tive Assembly agree in making any modification in the rule or the Assam Legisla tive Assembly agree that the rule should not be rna e, the r ule shall thereafter have effect on y in such modified form or be of no effect, as the case may be; so however, that any such modification or annulment sha ll be without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under that rule. B. SAR MA , Seey. to the Oovt. of Assam. Law Department. ---_-./