401. History sheets, Part IV. [§ 12, Act V, 1861].
(a)History sheets shall contain a short account of the life of the person to whom they relate and all facts likely to have a bearing on his criminal history. They shall be opened only for persons, who are, or are likely to become, habitual criminals or the aiders or abettors of such criminals. The conviction of a person for a heinous offence, such as robbery, dacoity, serious burglary or receiving stolen property, will ordinarily be sufficient to justify the opening of a history sheet, unless there be reason to believe that although convicted of one of these offences, the man is not a habitual criminal. For instance, a history sheet would not be opened for a man who, though convicted of housebreaking, is believed to have committed the offence in order to carry on an intrigue with a woman and not for the purpose of theft. On the other hand, if a person is suspected of being a receiver of stolen property, or of being concerned of systematic cattle theft, history sheet shall be begun, even if he has not been convicted. History sheets shall not be prepared for persons dealt with as first offenders under section 562, Code of Criminal Procedure. Proceedings under section 110 of that Code, shall ordinarily not be taken until a history sheet establishes a case of bad livelihood. But if security has, in any case, been demanded from a person under section 109 or 110, Code of Criminal Procedure, before the preparation of a history sheet, such a sheet shall at once be opened.(b)In all cases the orders of the Circle Inspector shall be obtained before a history sheet is opened, and the Inspector's orders shall be confirmed by the Superintendent when inspecting the station. Orders about starting history sheets may also be conveniently passed by the Superintendent on final memoranda. If any information favourable to an individual, whose name has been entered in the history sheet, is obtained, it shall be duly recorded(c)There shall be no regular watching over the movements of persons for whom history sheets are opened, unless they have been placed under surveillance by the Superintendent, but when the officer-in-charge visits the village he shall make confidential enquiries regarding the mode of life of such person, and note in the history sheets information, both favourable and unfavourable, which he may obtain in this or any other way. If the man has not been suspected of complicity in any case during any calendar year the fact shall be noted in his favour at the commencement of the next calendar year.(d)History sheets shall be consecutively numbered and kept together in a separate file as long as such persons are not brought under surveillance, with an index at the beginning.(e)When a man, for whom a history sheet is maintained, leaves the limits of one station and resides for over 3 months in another police-station within or outside the province his history sheet shall be sent to the latter police-station. When the police-station is in another province the history sheet should be sent through the Superintendent concerned. This transfer shall be noted against the individual's name in the index. Officers receiving history sheets shall acknowledge receipt. Such history sheets will be dealt with in exactly the same way as other sheets in existence in the province, i.e., the sheets shall be labelled "Confidential" and governed by the rules existing in that province.
