531A. [ Release of members of criminal tribe. [P.G. No. 1726-S Jails dated 3.7.22 and No. 7705-S-Jails dated 3.10.30.]
(1)All members of notified and restricted Criminal Tribes, both wandering and settled, in whose case orders under section 16 of the Criminal Tribes Act, 1924, have been passed by the Provincial Government restricting their movements to the Reformatory Settlement Amritsar should be sent there on expiry of the sentence they are serving.]Note - These instructions do not apply to members of Criminal Tribes who are reported by the Medical Officer in charge of the jail concerned to be suffering from Tuberculosis. Such members should be sent direct to their homes and not to a Criminal Tribes Settlement and the Deputy Commissioners for Criminal Tribes and Superintendent of Police of their district should be informed of their release.(2)All prisoners belonging to the Criminal Tribes who are not liable to transfer to the Amritsar Reformatory under Clause (1) above are transferred before release to the jail of the district to which they are restricted or to the nearest to their homes. Before release the Superintendent of the Jail should obtain for them from the Superintendent of Police of their District a pass under rule 15 of the rules framed under section 20 of the Criminal Tribes Act, 1924, to the places of their restriction, valid for a number of days just sufficient for the journey and specifying the route by which they should travel. This pass should be delivered by them on their arrival at their place of restriction to the Station House Officer of the Police Station within the jurisdiction of which that place is situated or to the Superintendent of the Settlement if their place of restriction is a settlement and they should be informed before release that the pass should be so delivered by them. The cases of any prisoners who belong to notified Criminal Tribes and who are not registered or restricted or who have been exempted under the Criminal Tribes Act, 1924, but are undergoing sentence for one of the offences specified in clauses (a), (b) and (c) of sub-rule (5) of rule 28 or the rules framed under section 20 of the Criminal Tribes Act, 1924, or of any prisoners who wish to be restricted to a Criminal Tribes Settlement or to a village or police station different to the village or police station to which they were restricted before their last conviction, should be reported to the Deputy Commissioner for Criminal Tribes, Punjab, within a month of their arrival by the Superintendent of the Jail, in which they are sent to serve their sentence so that either the orders of the Punjab Government can be obtained under rules 11, 12 or 16 of the Criminal Tribes Act, 1924, as the case may be or the orders of the District Magistrate concerned can be obtained for their Registration under rule 24 of the Rules framed under section 20 of the Criminal Tribes Act, 1924.(3)History-tickets and descriptive rolls of prisoners who are to be conveyed to the Criminal Tribes Reformatory Settlement at Amritsar, after release should in every case be sent to the Superintendent of that Settlement with the prisoner.(4)The rules framed under section 20 of the Criminal Tribes Act, are as follows :-(28)(1) All admissions into a settlement established under section 16, shall be arranged by the Deputy Commissioner for Criminal Tribes, under the general or special orders of the Provincial Government.(2)(a)When it is proposed to commit any member of a Criminal Tribe to such Settlement, the District Magistrate of the district in which such member resides or is found, or the Deputy Commissioner of Criminal Tribes shall order him to be produced either before himself or before a Magistrate of the Ist Class.(b)The Magistrate before whom he is produced shall then explain to him the grounds on which it is proposed to commit him to a criminal tribes settlement and shall record the statement, if any, made by him.The Magistrate shall also furnish to him, on payment of copying fees at the usual rates, a summary of the allegations made against him in order to afford him an opportunity of rebutting the allegations.(c)If it should appear to such Magistrate that further enquiry concerning such a person is necessary the enquiry shall be made in such manner as may seem most suitable in the circumstances.(3)(a)When a member of Criminal Tribes is convicted of an offence and awarded a sentence on the expiry of which he is liable to detention in such settlement the convicting Magistrate, if he is a Magistrate of the Ist Class, shall call upon the said member of Criminal Tribes to show cause why on the expiry of the sentence he should not be committed to a settlement established under section 15 of the Act.(b)If the convicting Magistrate referred to in clause (a) of the sub- rule is of a status lower than that of a Magistrate of the Ist Class, he shall report the case to District Magistrate who shall either take action under clause (a) himself or entrust the case to a Magistrate of Ist Class.(c)The District Magistrate or the Magistrate of Ist Class referred to in clause (b) above shall record the statement, if any, of the member of the Criminal Tribe and shall also furnish to him on payment of occupying fees at the usual rates, summary of the allegations made against him, in order to afford him an opportunity of rebutting the allegations.(d)The proceedings taken under clauses (a), (b) and (c) above shall then be forwarded by the said Magistrate to the Deputy Commissioner for Criminal Tribes, Punjab, who shall ascertain the previous record of the said member of Criminal Tribes from the Police authorities, make such other inquiries as he may consider necessary and submit the case for the orders of the Provincial Government.(4)The provisions of Chapter XX and of Sections 68, 90 to 93, 242 and 496 of the Code of Criminal Procedure shall, in so far as they are applicable, apply to all inquiries held under section 16 of the said Act.(5)No such member of a settled Criminal Tribe shall ordinarily be committed to or detained in any Reformatory or Industrial Settlement unless he has had two or more convictions for any of the following offences, namely :-(a)Non-bailable offences described in Chapters XII and XVII of the Indian Penal Code;(b)offences punishable under the Criminal Tribes Act, 1924;(c)offences punishable under the Indian Arms Act, 1878; or(d)unless he has been ordered to provide security for good behaviour :Provided that no such person shall ordinarily be committed to a settlement under this rule when more than five years have elapsed since the expiry of the sentence passed on him on the last conviction, or in consequences of the order requiring security, as the case may be.Note :- Two convictions one for absence and the other for one of the offences specified in clause (a) or clause (c) of sub-rule (5) of Rule 28 committed in course of the absence shall count as one conviction only.(6)Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-rule (5) the Provincial Government may commit to settlement any member of a criminal tribe who appears to be of criminal habits.(7)In the case of females referred to in clause (e) rule 3 such commitment may on the recommendation of the Deputy Commissioner for Criminal Tribes, Punjab, be made co-extensive with the period of detention of the husband or guardian of such female.(8)When a member of criminal tribe is ordered to be committed to a settlement established under section 16, such member shall be sent to the settlement in Police custody.
