New Delhi, Nov 14 (PTI) The Delhi High Court today askedthe AAP government to consider amending the penal provisionsto deal with the "serious problem" of chain snatching in thenational capital.
A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice CHari Shankar sought a status report from the Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) government on how it intended to deal with the issue,which was raised in a PIL filed by a lawyer.
While even the rape laws needed "drastic amendments", thegovernment should look into making the punishment forsnatching more stringent, the court said.
The court also issued notice to the Delhi government,police and the municipal corporations and sought their replyto the plea, which has also contended that various parks inthe city were the "hubs" of such crimes and the criminalelements frequented such places due to lack of vigilance.
The bench listed the matter for further hearing onDecember 14.
The petition was moved by advocate Prashant Manchanda whohas alleged that chain snatchings in the city have seen a six-fold rise leading to a "fear psychosis" in the minds ofcitizens as well as tourists who are also targeted by theperpetrators.
He claimed that on an average, there were 25 snatchingcases every day in the national capital due to the "absence ofeffective laws" and "indifference" of the police, which booksthe offenders under the "trivial provisions" of theft insteadof robbery or dacoity, even though weapons are used to commitsuch crimes.
"Many incidents of snatching entail serious wounds andalso involve use of deadly weapons, leading to fatal injuriesor death of the victims," the petition has said.
Manchanda told the court that the state of Haryana,recognising the seriousness of the problem, has madeinclusions in the penal law IPC to make it harsher againstsnatchings.
Under the newly added sections 379A and 379B in the IPC,the offence of snatching entails a punishment ranging fromfive to 14 years with fine, as against the maximum of threeyears under section 379, the petition has said.
The petitioner also told the bench that in Maharashtratoo, the punishment for snatching has been made stringent andin some cases, the Mumbai police has also invoked MaharashtraControl of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).
In response to the submission, the court said suchoffences could be part of organised crime, but the lawyer forDelhi police, Gautam Narayan, disagreed.
Narayan said an amendment was under consideration andadded that such matters should be left to the police.
The court, however, asked the authorities to file theirstatus reports within three weeks. PTI HMP SKV PPSARC.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.