Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS): Car stolen? Why chances are brighter of your hot wheels getting restored to you

NEW DELHI: Delhi Police registered over 200 FIRs in the past one week under the new section in the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), which is dedicated to dealing with vehicle thefts. With punishment for the crime enhanced to seven years, the investigating officers (IOs) are visiting the spot immediately after the theft is reported, filming the crime scene and uploading their reports on the police's app, e-pramaan.

Unlike earlier, the crime seems to be getting some priority now.Cops are hopeful that the shake-up is likely to bring down vehicle theft figures in the near future.

TOI had reported last week how cops would start lodging vehicle theft FIRs under section 305-B of BNS.
Vehicle theft came under the crime 'theft' in the erstwhile Indian Penal Code and was dealt with under Section 379, which had a punishment of three years. A few years ago, the police launched an app to register vehicle theft cases as e-FIRs. This enabled people to get their untraced report in about 30 days and claim insurance. However, the arrangement virtually stopped any immediate probe into individual cases and led to the numbers skyrocketing.
With the new laws coming into effect, the cops are now visiting the spot immediately on receiving the information about a vehicle theft and filming the crime scene as mandated. While the case is registered as an e-FIR in the crime branch, the SHO is assigning IOs at the police station level. This is expected to give results on the ground soon, according to cops.
Even after the rollout of the new laws, some vehicle theft FIRs were registered under Section 303, which defines theft. However, this was soon changed, and now such cases are being lodged under Section 305-B, officials confirmed.
Each district has filed around 12-15 FIRs in the past one week, according to sources. The data shows that from July 1 to July 7, following the implementation of the new law, a total of 113 cases were registered in the three districts of North East, East and Shahdara. In contrast, West district reported 17 cases, Southwest 16, South 13, Outer North 13 while North registered eight. Over 50 cases were reported by other districts in the city.
An officer said that videography is mandatory not only for the spot but also during search of the suspect and seizure of the vehicle.
"The police team will videograph the entire procedure of checking the vehicle and the driver. This ensures that the accused does claim that the evidence was planted or tampered with. We have conducted multiple training sessions for the cops, especially those deployed at pickets during night hours, on videography," the officer added.
Vehicle thefts in Delhi have seen a drastic rise in the past decade - from 14,000 in 2011, the figures grew over threefold by 2019, touching 46,000. In 2020-22, they stood at about 37,000, and have remained almost the same thereafter.