Hyderabad police will use Prevention of Dangerous Activities Act against chain snatchers
Hyderabad: All major chain snatchers had always had an easy way out from prison. Though they face more than a 100 FIRs and several NBWs they come out on bail and resume operations. After coming out of jail they shift house and vanish from the police radar.
Chain snatching thus became the most frequently occurring crime in the city. The police now hope to hold these criminals down using the Prevention of Dangerous Activities Act. If charged under this law the crooks will have to remain in jail for a considerable time without bail.
“Normally, most of the chain snatchers get bail within a week. The gravity of the case is almost the same as pick pocketing. If charged under the PD Act they will have to remain in jail for at least six months and if the police seeks extension they will be behind bars for more than that,” said DCP Pala Raju.
The two snatchers, Sayeed Hussain alias Lamba, and his friend Mirza Azmat Ali Baig, who were involved in around 200 chain snatching cases were arrested twice between 2010 and 2012. However, they came out on bail and continued snatching.
Hussain vanished from the police radar after getting bail in November 2012, but he struck terror among women frequently in various parts of the city. He even stabbed a constable. The duo are now in jail with the cops nabbing them. The police has now booked them under the PD Act.
The preventive detention of these criminals is carried out under the AP Prevention of Dangerous Activities of bootleggers, dacoits, drug offenders, goondas, immoral traffic offenders and land grabbers Act 1986. “Since these snatchers create fear and insecurity among the public we can book them under this Act and keep them in jail,” said police commissioner Mahender Reddy.
After the encounter with chain snatcher Kadaluri Shiva the police had started an attempt to track down “mobile snatchers,” who keep changing their houses once they are out on bail. Officials say they simply track people who bailed them out in past cases. The cops had made a list of major snatchers and is on the job to execute NBWs pending against them. The serious offenders will be put behind bars using the PD Act.
