In an effort to keep the city legal and orderly, police have added over 300 renowned rowdies to their roster of history sheeters. The city currently has around 1,300 history-sheeters, and police keep a close eye on them.
Every month, the city police keep an eye on history-sheeters and report on their activities. History-sheeters who are free on bail and yet committing crimes are also summoned by the police.
Additionally, they arrest people who disobey the order and remove them from Coimbatore city in accordance with Section 51A of the Madras City Police Act.
A top police officer claims that a number of actions are being done to keep law and order and control crime. Police were told to gather the backgrounds of the rowdies as part of this.
Personnel from different police stations in Coimbatore collected details of repeat offenders, and the records were examined. According to the officer, 302 people have been added to the history-sheeters’ list after being identified as troublemakers.
He added that officers have assigned one police officer to monitor two to three rowdies. Every day, they would keep tabs on their activities and report back to their superior.
There are currently 1,105 people on the list, 594 of whom are located within the boundaries of the north police station and 511 of whom are located within the boundaries of the south police station. Of these, 67 are incarcerated in the south and 91 in the north.
Additionally, police are gathering information on exiled individuals and convicts who have not committed a crime in the last ten years. The removal of such people from the list of history-sheeters is being discussed. According to the police, this should lessen crime and limit the movement of rowdies in Coimbatore.
What are history-sheeters?
A history sheeter is a person with a substantial criminal history who has been connected to several crimes, according to police terminology and protocol.
The police regulations of each state, such as the Punjab Police Rules, 1934, which apply in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, and Chandigarh, regulate the procedure for opening a history sheet.
The procedure starts when a person who has been found guilty in several cases and/or is consistently involved in criminal activity is brought to the attention of the Station House Officer (SHO), who is in charge of the police station.
A report with comprehensive details about them, their associates, and known family members is then sent to the district’s superintendent of police or senior superintendent of police via the assistant commissioner of police.
Additionally, a person may be history sheeted if police continue to evaluate their threat to the public.
What kind of details are included in a history sheet?
A history record must include a description, paying particular emphasis to “peculiarities of appearance,” as required by the Punjab Police Rules, 1934. In order to provide hints about the people “with whom the criminal is likely to harbor when wanted by the police,” it must make reference to “relations and connections” (associates, relatives, etc.).
In order to facilitate a judgment as to whether the criminal is at any time living beyond his means; whether he is capable of furnishing a personal recognizance of any value; whether he is an owner of property, a tenant, or a wage-earner, and so on, it is also necessary to include any property that the offender owns as well as her means of subsistence.
Are all kinds of crimes and criminals clubbed together in a single history sheet?
Depending on the police evaluation, there are several types of history sheets, such as KD (Known Depredators) sheets, suspect sheets, rowdy sheets, members of organized crime sheets, and budding criminal sheets.
KD sheets are designed for offenders guilty of offenses like burglary, robbery, or dacoity. Those who regularly commit or assist in the commission of offenses involving breach of the peace are known as rowdy sheeters. Those with a prior conviction for theft or burglary are considered suspect sheeters.
History sheets are automatically accessed for habitual criminals, those convicted of theft, robbery, burglary, and dacoity, and those released from life in prison for some financial crime cases.
The state or UT’s standing orders and police manuals determine the precise process for opening history sheets and the circumstances under which they are opened.
When did the practice of history sheeting begin?
The Punjab Police Rules of 1934 were the first to use the term history sheet. According to these regulations, regardless of a person’s criminal record, a history sheet may be opened against someone who is reasonably believed to be habitually addicted to crime or to be an aider or abettor of such persons.
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According to the Criminal Tribes Act of 1871, the local government may submit a case and ask for the tribe or gang to be deemed criminal if it has reasonable suspicion that they are addicted to committing non bailable offenses on a regular basis.
