KARACHI: Vehicles’ recovery record seen as doubtful
By Arman Sabir
KARACHI, Dec 16: The recovery data of the hijacked/stolen vehicles is merely a fudging of figures rather than being based on facts.
According to official statistics, the police recovered 47.11 per cent snatched/stolen cars in the first ten months of this year apart from recovering 25.60 per cent motorbikes. In the year 2000, the police recovered 59.72 per cent cars and 30.63 per cent motorbikes.
These recoveries included those vehicles which were found abandoned and had not been snatched/stolen or those vehicles which had been seized by the police when the owners failed to produce the relevant papers.
These vehicles had later been released on production of papers but were shown in the chart of the recovery, police officials said.
However, the police statistics about recovery have been disputed by provincial government officials. They maintain that 95 per cent of the stolen vehicles are from Karachi and “those once stolen are seldom recovered”. “There is a long chain of criminals involved in this illegal activity,” they observe.
It has been pointed out that a lot of problems are being faced in the recovery of the vehicles as well as in the arrest of culprits. Experts hold that there should be a pool of information containing the particulars of the vehicles stolen and recovered.
The police usually recover hijacked/stolen vehicles, including cars and motorcycles, under section 550 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC). The section 550 states: “Powers of police to seize property suspected to be stolen.— Any police officer may seize any property which may be alleged or suspected to have been stolen, or which may be found under circumstances which create suspicion of the commission of any offence. Such police officer, if subordinate to the officer incharge of a police station, shall forthwith report the seizure to that officer.”
This section allows the police to impound any suspected stolen property and the section is allegedly being misused. Insiders say that in some cases in which a stolen/hijacked vehicle is recovered following the arrest of the suspect(s), the police allegedly release suspects by taking bribes and do not institute a case against them. However, they show in the FIR that they found vehicles as abandoned and seized them under section 550 CrPC, they add.
The police also seize the cars and motorcycles from those who fail to show documents and when they produced papers, their vehicles are released. However, this was shown in the chart of recovery of stolen/hijacked vehicles in the statistics compiled officially by the police, the sources claim.
Besides, the sources say, if suspects are arrested following recovery of stolen/hijacked vehicles from their possession they are booked under section 411 or 412 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) as the case may be.
The section 411 states: “Whoever dishonestly receives or retains, any stolen property, knowing or having reason to believe the same to be stolen property, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both.”
The section 412 of the PPC states: “Whoever dishonestly receives or retains any stolen property, the possession whereof he knows or has reason to believe to have been transferred by the commission of dacoity, or dishonestly receives from person, who he knows or has reason to believe to belong or to have belonged to a gang or dacoits, property which he knows or has reason to believe to have been stolen, shall be punished with imprisonment for life, or with rigorous imprisonment for a term which may extend to ten years and shall also be liable to fine.”
The police have the powers to keep a recovered vehicle for 60 days while they search its owner. And within the stipulated period, the police have to deposit the recovered vehicle in Nazareth.
An owner of a stolen car, the sources say, is usually informed by the police that his car has been recovered. He is then asked to come to the police station for meeting some legal formalities. He is told to approach the police station where he had registered the FIR about his car theft. Thereafter, he is told to approach the court to get his vehicle released from Nazareth as the recovered vehicle can not be handed over by the police directly to the rightful owner. The owner has to visit police stations, courts and Nazareth, waste his time, and then he is able to get his vehicle back with most of its parts missing. The whole process may take one month to six months, as it depends on how much money is being spent.
In case police do not register an FIR and during that period the vehicle is recovered, then the police have the powers to hand over the vehicle directly to its legal owner. But if the vehicle is used in the commission of an offence, the police have to register an FIR. After registration of the FIR, the rightful owner of that car has to face a series of problems in getting back his/her car.
