ANALYSING THAT HOW OUR LEGAL SYSTEM IS STRUCTURED AND WILL THEY BE ABLE TO GIVE JUSTICE, IF A OFFENDER TRIES TO RUN AWAY.
ABSTRACT :
Think about a situation where someone has committed a crime against you and you as a responsible citizen took the matter in the court to get justice. Given the circumstances, the offender runs away and is hiding somewhere. As a victim what will be your thought , I am sure as a person you must be scared that offender might get away with it and you will never be able to get justice which you deserve. You will also be thinking about your own security that what if the same offender tries to harm you again and despite the efforts of court to catch the culprit, is resulting in failures. This article aims to discuss about this serious issue and how it can be resolved. We will also be analyzing the whole scenario, what are the legal procedures and how it is working while benefitting the society.
INTRODUCTION :
Our issue is that “what is the legal procedure for the police to attach the property of a proclaimed offender who is absconding”. Before diving into legal procedure we have to understand that what is the issue is exactly and why it is arising and how we can fix it. Let me explain it to you all, this simply means that if someone is hiding when a court orders them to appear at a specific place and time and they don’t show up within the given time then that person will labelled as a “Proclaimed offender” it will be assumed that the person hiding must have committed the crime and that’s the reason he is hiding or running away from the law to avoid the consequences.
In order to compel the hiding person to surrender, the court takes control of their property like house, land, bank accounts or car so the offender doesn’t sell it, use it or move it. It is our legal system of stating that “come out of hiding, or you will lose your assets”. This is the India’s criminal procedure mentioned in BHARATIYA NAGARIK SURAKSHA SANHITA (BNSS) to tackle the situation. When a arrest warrants fail then the legal system relies on the property to ensure the presence of accused as there presence is vital for a fair trial.
BACKGROUND :
Before taking control of the property, it is the duty of the court to take certain actions as it is a multi-stage process. Our law draws a line that court cannot directly seize the property without giving the offender a fair chance. The process starts with a summon that means it’s a formal courts order directing a person to appear and if the summon is ignored then arrest warrant comes into the picture that court orders the police to arrest the offender and bring them to court. After that comes the proclamation given in section 84 of BNSS that if the police reports that the person is hiding and the warrant cannot be executed then the court gives a public written notice which commands the person to show up at a specified place and time, giving them a final 30 days. If they still fail to appear within those 30 days then they are formally declared “Proclaimed Offender” by the court. Once the person is designated as a proclaimed offender then the court gets the power to order “attachment of property” under section 85 of the BNSS.
LEGAL FRAMEWORK :
The exact mechanism to attach the property of a proclaimed offender who is absconding are as follows:
- Issuance of the order – The court who issued the proclamation can order the attachment of any moveable or immoveable property belonging to a proclaimed person at the time. It generally orders the attachment after the 30 days of proclamation period when it expires but it can order both the proclamation and the attachment together, if it is comes to the knowledge of court that the proclaimed person is trying to sell, dispose of or move their property out of the court’s jurisdiction.
- Attachment of moveable and immoveable property – According to section 85(3) of the BNSS, if the property is moveable goods such as cash, jewelry, or vehicles etc. the attachment is carried out by physically confiscating the item through an authorized officer and then appointing a independent authorized person to take control and look after the property while issuing a strict order restricting everyone to deliver the property to the proclaimed offender. According to section 85(4) of the BNSS, if the property is immoveable property then the attachment will be executed by district collector if the land pays revenue/tax to the state government. For the other builldings or land, the court executes the attachment by taking physical possession appointing a receiver or issuing a written order which prohibits the payment of rent or lease income to the offender.
- Exception- If the attached property consists of livestock (animals) or items that spoils easily (perishable goods) the court can order an immediate sale and safely withholding the revenue generated from the sale.
MAIN ANALYSIS AND CASE STUDIES :
Before analyzing the cases , we have to know that BNSS is new criminal procedure act before that we used to have CrPC. As we are discussing about BNSS it is important to remember about CrPC and how both are different and similar, as new criminal laws have been evolved from the old laws itself but with certain distinction. The core concept of our article remains similar in both the cases. In section 82 and 83 of CrPC use to dealt with issue of attachment of property of abscond offender which limited the direct domestic process for tracing overseas assets and acted as a standalone physical execution process but in BNSS it has been recodified under section 84 and 85 and it also allows to attach the properties abroad and it linked newer provisions that gives the main power that is to allow the court to proceed even if the offender remains hidden. It shows that how strong laws are being made to ensure that there is no subject of loophole in the matter of delivering justice. I will be discussing two cases which deals with one CrPC and one BNSS which will help us to understand the transition and how it works.
- The old law case (CrPC) named State of Madhya Pradesh v. M.N. Bapat – In this case, the local court was in rush to seize the property of an accused person who was hiding and they didn’t check carefully whether all steps were taken or not. The higher court the ruled that step by step procedure laid down by law is mandatory to follow while seizing the offender’s property. If the police or court skips one minor step then the entire attachment of property becomes illegal and must be cancelled. Hence this cases proves that under the old CrPC framework, courts always prioritized protecting a person’s property rights over a hasty police work.
- This new law case (BNSS) named Ravi@ Ravindra Singh v. State of U.P – This a very recent case dealing with BNSS rules. In this case the court had to look at a property attachment order and determine how to transition from old CrPC mindset to the new The Allahabad high court clearly stated that section 85 of BNSS back it’s old root (section 83 of the CrPC) warning the lower courts that they must still ensure the strict 30 day notice is perfectly executed before seizing the person’s property. The Court highlighted a powerful new weapon in the BNSS (Section 356), which did not exist in the old law. It ruled that if a criminal’s property is attached and they still refuse to show up, they are considered to have voluntarily given up their right to a normal trial. The court can appoint a government lawyer for them and complete the entire trial, even delivering a final judgment, without the accused being present.
CONCLUSION :
This article helps us to understand that how it protects each and everyone from excessive and coercive forces. It protect the offender’s property rights to some extent with giving court steps and procedure to follow before seizing the property. It also make sures that victim gets the justice despite the absence of offender. It strongly held the quote “Justice Delayed means Justice Denied” so it focuses that no matter what, even if the accused is not present , the court has the authority to give the final verdict . The attachment of property of an absconding offender is a vital remedy to force the accused to surrender. If the police attach a property that belongs to or is shared by an innocent family member, the law provides strict safeguards to protect them under Section 87 of the BNSS, 2023. The affected family member has a 6-month window to file a formal objection in court with proof of ownership, during which the government is strictly banned from selling the asset. The court must hold an inquiry to review the evidence; if the claim is rejected, the family member still retains the right to file a civil lawsuit within 1 year to permanently establish their legal rights and save their property. Ultimately, these procedural steps ensure that individuals cannot bypass the Indian judicial ecosystem simply by running away from it.
REFERENCES :
84–85, The Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (India).
82–83, The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (India).
State of Madhya Pradesh v. M.N. Bapat, AIR 1960 MP 111 (India).
Ravi @ Ravindra Singh v. State of U.P., Criminal Misc. Application No. 627 of 2021 [Decided under current framework, 2026] (All. HC) (India).
R.V. Kelkar’s Lectures on Criminal Procedure: Based on Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023
