Mar 9, 2022

Easy ways you may get arrested in India

Nyaaya

Given below are easy unwitting ways by which a person may be arrested or go to jail in India: 

Insulting the national flag and disrupting the national anthem  

The law criminalises any insult to the Indian national flag, including actions like burning, cutting, tarnishing, disfiguring, destroying, or trampling the flag or insulting it through contemptuous words ( spoken or written). 

Similarly, disrupting the singing of the national anthem or creating hindrances to a person  singing  the national anthem can be punished by law with imprisonment up to three years or a fine or both.   The Flag Code of India states that:

  • The flag should not be dipped in salute to any person or thing. 
  • As far as possible, the flag should be flown from sunrise to sunset, irrespective of the weather.
  • The flag should not be intentionally allowed to touch the ground or the floor or trail in water.
  • The flag should not be used as a portion of a costume or uniform or as embroidery or print on clothes and objects. 
  • The flag cannot be draped over the  hood, top, and sides or back of vehicles, trains, boats or aircrafts. 
  • No other flag, emblem or object (including flowers and garlands) can be placed higher than the flag. 
  • No lettering of any kind should be put on the flag. 

Urinating or spitting in a public place

Urinating or spitting in public places is a crime  of public nuisance. Public places can include bus stops, railway stations, offices, malls, parks, theatres, hospitals, etc. These actions are punishable with a fine of Rupees. 200 or more. 

Vandalism 

Vandalism is the wilful and malicious destruction of public property, and  a crime known as mischief. Some examples of vandalism include writing/drawing graffiti on heritage sites and monuments, throwing objects to destroy a building etc. The punishment for mischief is 3 months imprisonment, a fine or both. Additionally, under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act,1958, the punishment for vandalising heritage sites and monuments is imprisonment for two years and fine of one lakh rupees. 

Piracy

Illegally downloading, viewing, exhibiting, sharing and selling  content, either through computer programs, music or films is punishable with three years of imprisonment and a fine of up to three lakhs. 

Consuming Drugs and Narcotics

Consuming banned drugs and psychotropic substances is illegal in India. If you are caught consuming cocaine, morphine, or diacetyl-morphine, you can be punished with jail time for up to 1 year and/or a fine of up to Rs. 20,000. For any other banned drugs, you can be punished with jail time for up to 6 months and/or a fine of up to Rs. 10,000. 

Sikkim is the only State in India that provides for immunity from prosecution for consumption of drugs through rehabilitation of addicts. Addicts who consume drugs can voluntarily seek to undergo medical treatment for de-addiction from a hospital or institution maintained by the Government to avoid prosecution. Further, if a person consumes a drug without a medical prescription in Sikkim, they have to undergo compulsory detoxification, followed by rehabilitation and shall be only liable to pay a fine upto Rs. 10000.

Public Display of Affection

Public Display of Affection can be construed as an obscene act which is a crime in India under Section 294 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The law can punish anyone who annoys other people by doing any obscene act in any public place, or singing, reciting or uttering any obscene song, ballad or words, in or near any public place. 

The police may harass you or even arrest you for PDA, for which the punishment is imprisonment for up to three months and/or a fine.

Calling someone “Chinki” and “Bhangi”

Calling someone slur words like Chinki, Bhangi, Chamar, Dhobhi and Harijan, is illegal in India under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. Intentionally insulting, intimidating or abusing a member of SCs/STs in public is a crime punishable with 6 months imprisonment to 5 years along with a fine.

Flying a Kite in India Without a Permit

The Indian Aircraft Act of 1934, considers a kite to also be an aircraft thus making it necessary to get a permit to fly one. However, this is not a common practice that is followed in India! Some other objects that also require a permit under this law include balloons whether fixed or free, airships, gliders and flying machines.

Insulting the Religion or Religious Beliefs of a Person

According to Section 295A of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 it is a criminal offence to deliberately insult a religion or religious beliefs of any Indian citizen or their religious community with a cruel intention. The insult can be in the form of words (spoken or written), signs, visible representation etc. The punishment is imprisonment for up to three years and/or a fine.

Trespassing onto someone else’s Property

If someone enters into a property which is not theirs, that person will be punished under the law for criminal trespass or the crime commonly known as trespassing. At the time of prosecution, the Court will look into several factors like whether the person trespassing had an intention to enter, insult or annoy the property owner. However, the property owner still has the right to contact the police and file an FIR if someone enters their property. The punishment for trespassing is an imprisonment term of 3 months along with a fine of Rupees 500 or both.

 

Finding money or “treasure” and not reporting it

If someone finds something of value more than Rupees 10, the finder must report it to the Collector, which may be a revenue officer of a district, regarding what they have found. This is considered to be “treasure” under the Indian Treasure Trove Act, 1878. This law even punishes the finder if they dont inform the Collector or if they try to hide the treasure with a punishment of imprisonment for a term upto 1 year or with a fine or both.

 

Fighting in Public

If two or more people get into a fight in public, they can be arrested and are said to commit an affray. If the fight ends up disturbing the peace in public, it is a crime under Section 159 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 and the punishment is imprisonment upto 1 month along with a fine of Rupees 100 or both.

 

Have a question you want to ask our legal experts?

Related Guest Blogs

February 09 2022

A Much Needed Guide To Navigating The Police System For The Indian Woman

Have you ever been eve-teased or harassed and not reported it because you just did not want to approach the police? Have you ever had even the slightest amount of fear to get something as simple as a passport verification done from the police? Or while asking for directions on the street, you have the […]
Read More >

February 14 2022

Torture in Police Custody: What Are Your Rights?

    The issue of police brutality was recently brought back to light following the death of George Floyd in the United States. Soon, many across the world took to social media to highlight the problems of custodial torture prevalent in their countries. This wave also brought out the story of Jayaraj and Fenix from […]
Read More >

February 09 2022

Unable to file an FIR due to police harassment? Here’s what to do

An FIR (First Information Report) is a document prepared by the police when they receive information about a crime or offence that has been committed. Typically, while filing an FIR, the police will ask multiple details regarding the complaint you have and give you a copy of the FIR to keep. An FIR is integral […]
Read More >

February 09 2022

#LostVotes campaign: No, citizens who relocate within India do not lose their vote

In January, The Times of India newspaper started a #LostVotes campaign ahead of the upcoming general elections. It advocates the cause of those who were not able to vote in the last Lok Sabha elections because they were not living in places where they were registered as voters. The campaign claims that 281 million registered […]
Read More >

February 14 2022

Domestic Violence during Lockdown: Dealing with the Shadow Pandemic

  A UN report has recently analysed the impact of COVID-19 on women, urging nation-states to include prevention of violence against women and girls as a part of their COVID-19 action plan.((COVID-19 and Ending Violence Against Women and Girls, UN Women(2020), https://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/library/publications/2020/issue-brief-covid-19-and-ending-violence-against-women-and-girls-en.pdf?la=en&vs=5006[]))1 With a sharp increase in domestic violence cases across the world, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, […]
Read More >

February 07 2022

For Manual Scavengers, Swachhta is not Seva

Another anniversary of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (hereinafter “SBA”) is approaching and “Swachhta Hee Sewa” is in the air. The Government has purportedly been very sincere in its efforts to promote the nation-wide cleanliness campaign. But if you look beyond the endorsements from celebs and the photo-ops of ministers cleaning areas which have been cleaned […]
Read More >