Property Crimes And Their Legal Provisions In India
Property crime refers to any offence involving the private property of an individual or group of individuals. Commonly, crimes against property include stealing, burglary, shoplifting, and vandalism. The Indian judiciary has relevant rules for actions that interfere with a person’s ownership of their own private property and, as a result, endanger their life or safety. Property crimes almost invariably result in the criminals becoming richer. These offences are more criminal in nature than civil. These crimes frequently entail force, extortion, robbery, threatening behavior, etc.
Property crimes are typically divided into two categories: lost property and destroyed property.
Societal Impact Of Property Crimes In India:
India is a growing nation, hence the growth of its economy and population has a significant impact on the country’s crime rate. Petty crimes and terrible crimes are both committed, and many crimes go undetected for a variety of reasons. Due to India’s continuing economic instability and insufficient resource availability for its expanding population, poverty is one of the key determinants that contributes to the conduct of property crimes. Due to their lack of education, the majority of people have few options other than to rob and assault others in vulgar ways.
Property crime is prevalent and violent in numerous states, including Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh. In many of these locations, the relationship between the police, criminals, and politicians fosters lawlessness and a lack of harsh penalties for criminal behaviour. As a result, the general public significantly loses faith in the system and refrains from even reporting issues for fear of a further escalation and problems that may follow.
The general public believes that politicians are corrupted and that they regularly commit small-scale vandalism and robberies in order to further their own ends. In the process, these criminals also help to commit more serious and violent crimes in order to create a climate of fear and encourage property crimes.
The frequency of crimes is governed by the social climate of a state. The factors that have always been important in affecting the crime rate include unemployment, religion, politics, and poverty, as well as unequal rights and an unfair justice system. As a result, the entire system needs to be reformatted from the ground up, which is a very difficult procedure and will take a long time,
Analysis of Indian law's current property crime provisions:
For a better knowledge of the topic in the modern day, offences linked to property crimes need to be thoroughly analysed in order to understand the nature and pattern of property crimes in India.
Theft (Section 378-382):
An act by which a person illegally causes a movable property to be taken away from the lawful possession of another person without his/her consent, is called theft. The property must be moveable or anything that is not attached to the earth or has lost the quality of being linked to the earth due to movement that influences the severance of the act of theft in order for the act to qualify as theft.
For instance, if A cuts trees planted on B’s property and removes them without B’s permission, A is considered to have committed theft the minute A cut the trees off with the false goal of removing them.
Theft is punishable under section 379 either by a fine, a term of imprisonment that may not exceed three years, or by both.
According to Section 380, theft committed in a structure, tent, or other object considered to be a place of habitation for humans is punishable by up to seven years in jail and a fine.
The State of Tamil Nadu amended Section 380 and stipulated that stealing any idol or icon of devotion or religious significance from any place of worship is punishable by imprisonment for not less than two years but up to three years, as well as by a fine of not less than two thousand rupees. If there are specific and sufficient grounds, the court may decide to impose a sentence of less than two years.
Section 381 states that when a person of a lower status, such as a clerk or a servant, steals
Robbery and Dacoity (section 390- 402):
The illegal act of taking away the property from the lawful possession of another person without his consent by inflicting force and causing apprehension to life and property of that person or to any other person is called robbery.
Robbery qualifies as an act of theft under Section 382. Robbery qualifies as an act of extortion when the act or omission causes instant fear of death, hurt or wrongful restraint which induces the person to give up his/her property forcefully against his/her will to another person.
When five or more people jointly conduct, attempt, or assist in committing robbery, it is referred to as dacoity. Therefore, it is evident that planning to conduct a robbery constitutes a crime that is subject to a fine and up to 10 years in jail.