167. History Sheets. (Section 3, Bengal Act II of 1866) (Section 9, Bengal Act IV of 1866). - (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 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 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 will not be opened for a man who though convicted of house breaking, 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 in systematic cattle theft, a 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 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 (Act V of 1898). Proceedings under section 110 of that Code, shall ordinarily not be taken until a history sheet established a case of bad livelihood. But if security has in any case been demanded from a person under section 109 or 110 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898, before the preparation of a history sheet, such a sheet shall at once be opened.
(b)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.(c)History sheets of men placed under surveillance shall be removed from main file of history sheets and kept in a separate file, with an alphabetical index at the beginning. This will serve the purposes of a surveillance register, and no other surveillance register shall be kept. When a man is removed from surveillance, his history sheet shall be detached from this file and placed at its original place in the main file. When a surveillee leaves the limits of one station and resides in another within or outside the State for over three months, his history sheet shall be sent to the station where he goes and this fact shall be noted against his name in the index. When the police station is in another State the history sheet shall be sent to the Deputy Commissioner or Superintendent of Police concerned in that State. The Officer-in-charge of the new station shall acknowledge receipt of the history sheet and continue to treat the surveillee as a surveillee of his own police station until he goes back to his former residence, when his history sheet shall be returned.
