First FIR of forgery and cheating lodged under new criminal laws in Noida

Gautam Budh Nagar district’s first FIR under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), which has replaced the Indian Penal Code, was registered at Surajpur police station on Monday in connection with a cheating and forgery case.

Police said the case was registered against a gang involved in securing bail for prisoners from the district court using forged documents. They said the suspects were running a nexus on a large scale and more arrests could be possible in the coming days.

“A FIR of cheating and forgery, under sections 318 (4) (whoever cheats and thereby dishonestly induces the person deceived to deliver any property to any person), 336 (3) (whoever commits forgery, intending that the document or electronic record forged), 338 (forgery of valuable security), and 340 (2) (3) (5) (forged document or electronic record and using it as genuine) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, was registered at Surajpur police station on Monday,” said Suniti, deputy commissioner of police, Central Noida.

“The suspects have been identified as Varun Sharma, 29, Birbal, 47, Naresh Chandra, 48, all residents of Bulandshahr, Ajaz, 25 and Ismail, 50, both residents of Dadri in Greater Noida,” she said.

The suspects were involved in getting bail for the prisoners after charging a huge amount, she said.

At Phase-2 police station, an evidence recovery in a case of attempt to murder was carried out under the BNS on Monday morning.

Giving details of the case, police said Pawan (goes by a single name), salesman of a liquor shop in Phase-2, Noida and resident of Ilahabans village in Phase-2, Noida, submitted a police complaint that a customer had stabbed him on the night of June 29 with a blunt object.

“Pawan said the customer came to purchase alcohol on the night of June 29 and stabbed him after an argument over the price of a bottle of beer. He then fled the spot. On June 30, an FIR was registered under charges of attempt to murder. The suspect, identified as Rakesh Burman, resident of New Ashok Nagar, Delhi, was arrested by the police from Sector 28 and on his directions, the knife used in the incident was recovered from the same area. The recovery was done under Section 105 of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), which replaces the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) , along with photography and videography, as per the provisions of the new law,” said Vindhyanchal Tiwari, station house officer, Phase-2 police station

With the new criminal laws coming into effect on Monday, the Noida police held a district-wide awareness programme at all 26 police stations of the commissionerate, to make all stakeholders and the general public aware of the new laws, senior officers said.

The existing laws - the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and the Indian Evidence Act – which are around 160 years old, will be replaced by the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (BSA), respectively.

Laxmi Singh, commissioner of police, Noida, said awareness programmes and seminars were organised at every police station and office of police personnel in the district on Monday.

“Under the directives of the central and state government, the awareness drives was held on Monday after inviting local residents and public stakeholders, to inform the people about the provisions of the new laws. Public awareness posters have also been put up at each police station to educate complainants who arrive at stations,” said Singh.

Harinder Bhati, a resident of Beta-2, Greater Noida and part of a residents’ volunteer organisation called “active citizens’ team (ACT)”, said the workshop held by the police was informative.

“Residents and traders attended the awareness drive held at the Beta-2 police station, wherein we were informed about the new provisions and how they make it convenient for residents to register FIRs. The police also informed us that now any search operation by the officers can only be done along with videography,” said Bhati.

According to Babloo Kumar, additional commissioner of police (headquarters), over 6,000 Noida police personnel have been trained over the past two months to bring them up to speed with the new criminal codes.

He said a dedicated team of experts under the leadership of DCP (headquarters) has also been constituted by the department to assist personnel with the new laws.

“As we shift to implementing the new laws, some investigating officers or personnel may face some confusion, hence a team of experts under the DCP HQ has been made to assist them. The team includes special prosecuting officer, assistant commissioner of police (Crime), as well as a police clerk,” said Kumar.

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