Greeva Garg–
Delhi High Court in a recent ruling laid detailed guidelines to be followed by the Delhi Police and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to trace down the proclaimed offenders.
The Court has directed to obtain the Social Media details of such proclaimed offender at the time of arrest or soon thereafter.
The Bench headed by Justice JR Midha observed in a 185-page Judgement that, “Delhi Police, as well as CBI, shall create a Special Cell for tracing out the Proclaimed Persons/Offenders; for attaching their movable/immovable properties and for their prosecution. Delhi Police as well as CBI are at liberty to have a consolidated Special Cell. This Special Cell to be created within four weeks.”
Noting that there are hindrances in early tracing and detection of proclaimed offenders and taking legal action, the Court said that these days social media tools can be used for tracking and tracing an accused in case of any exigency akin to absconding.
Issuing the guidelines, the Court directed the Digital Surveillance Team of Delhi Police and CBI, to search for the accused and the arrest memo should include the information attained through social media and websites like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn etc.
The Court stated that “Investigators need to proactively look for leads and clues in social media, electronic communication platforms and open-source information to search for Proclaimed Persons/Offenders.”
The Court led the authorization of a 10-member High Powered Committee for supervising the implementation of the guidelines.