Who are they? Where do they come from? And, what are their antecedents? These questions naturally come to the fore when one comes across the hordes of migrants in the commercial capital.
On July 5, South Goa District Magistrate, Venancio Furtado issued an order under section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) mandating landlords and owners of hotels, guesthouses and paying guest accommodation to furnish antecedents of the tenants and guests in a bid to closely monitor the movements of anti-socials and criminal elements in the district.
By the same order, the district magistrate authorised the district police chief and the station house officers of the police stations to file FIR on behalf of the State in the court against those violating the order.
The magistrate’s direction to the police officers to register the FIRs, however, has once again brought the magistrate and the men-in-uniform at loggerheads over the contentious issue of cracking a whip against the erring landlords and hotel owners.
Police officials, in private, insisted they are not bound by the magistrate’s order to file FIRs against erring landlords in the court of law for violation of the order. In fact, a senior police officer remarked that the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code are clear that the authority issuing the order under Section 144 of the Cr P C is required to file an FIR against the violators.
“The law is very clear on the issue. The Cr P C mandates the authority which has issued an order to lodge the FIR. This particular provision is still not amended by Parliament. In the instant case, only the District Magistrate or his subordinates can lodge the FIR against the landlord or hotel owners for violation of his order under Section 144 of the CrPC”, remarked a senior police officer.
District Magistrate, Venancio Furtado said his office has issued the order under Section 144 of the CrPC based on a report received from the district police chief.
“I will check out with the police as well as senior officials the exact legal position vis-à-vis FIR against the landlords”, Furtado said.
Intervention by Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar and the Advocate General has not helped much to cap the raging row between the police and the Magistrate over the question of filing FIR against the erring landlords.
Incidentally, the men-in-uniform have come out with a novel way to get the landlords furnish the details of their tenants at the police stations. Instead of filing a FIR, the police have now embarked on an exercise of issuing show cause notices to the landlords for their failure to furnish the antecedents of the tenants. A senior police officer said though the show cause notices may not have the legal standing, it has helped in getting the landlords furnish details of their tenants to the police.
