COMPLAINT OF CRIMINAL TRESPASS
To: The Officer in Charge, Police Station __________
Date: __________
From: __________, __________, aged __________, of __________, telephone __________
Subject: Trespass on __________ on __________: information of a cognizable offence, for recording as a first information report
Sir or Madam,
- The Property and my possession. The property concerned is __________ (the Property). __________ My right to it is shown by __________.
- Possession before the incident. I, or those through whom I hold, have been in possession of the Property since __________. Until the incident, __________.
- The persons. The persons who came to the Property are __________. I refer to them together as the accused.
- What they did. On __________, at about __________, __________
- Why they came. The accused had no permission from me and no order of any court or authority, and they came to take the Property from me, not to deal with me lawfully: __________.
- Where things stand. __________
- Witnesses and evidence. I hold the following evidence and will hand it to the investigating officer: __________.
- The offence. __________ The punishment for it is imprisonment of less than three years, so the preliminary enquiry that section 173(3) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 allows for offences punishable with three to seven years does not arise.
- My request. Please record this information as a first information report under section 173(1) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, give me a copy of it free of cost under section 173(2), investigate the offence, record the statements of the witnesses named above, and secure the recordings and articles listed in paragraph 7 before they are lost. __________
- If it is not recorded. If the information is not recorded, I will send its substance in writing by post to the Superintendent of Police under section 173(4) of that Sanhita, and if that too brings no action, I will apply to the Magistrate, who may order an investigation under section 175(3) after considering my application, supported by affidavit, and the submission of the officer in charge.
- Other proceedings, and the truth of this account. What I have stated is true to my own knowledge, except where I say I was told it, and I have left out nothing I know about the incident.
LEGAL BASIS
Punjab: Under section 329(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, criminal trespass is entering property in another's possession with intent to commit an offence or to intimidate, insult or annoy the person in possession, or unlawfully remaining there with that intent after a lawful entry; under section 329(2), house-trespass is criminal trespass into a building, tent or vessel used as a human dwelling, as a place of worship or for the custody of property. Section 329(3) punishes criminal trespass with imprisonment up to three months, or a fine up to Rs 5,000, or both, and section 329(4) punishes house-trespass with imprisonment up to one year, or a fine up to Rs 5,000, or both; lurking house-trespass or house-breaking carries imprisonment up to two years and fine under section 331(1). The First Schedule to the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 makes criminal trespass and house-trespass cognizable and bailable, triable by any Magistrate. The information is received by the officer in charge of a police station under section 173(1), orally or electronically and wherever the offence happened; electronic information is signed within three days, and a copy goes to the informant free of cost under section 173(2). Against a refusal to record it, the route is a written complaint by post to the Superintendent of Police under section 173(4), and then an application supported by affidavit to the court of a Magistrate empowered under section 210, which may order investigation under section 175(3). Both Sanhitas have been in force since 1 July 2024. The complaint decides nothing about title or possession: those questions are for the civil court within whose limits the property lies, under sections 16 and 17 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, and an appeal from its decree lies to the District Judge, or to the Punjab and Haryana High Court where the value of the suit takes it there.
Chandigarh: The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 and the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 are central law and apply in the Union Territory in the same terms from 1 July 2024. Sections 329 and 331 of the first define and punish the offence. The officer in charge of the police station receives and records the information under section 173(1) of the second and gives a free copy under section 173(2). Against a refusal to record it, the route is a written complaint by post to the Superintendent of Police under section 173(4), and then an application supported by affidavit to the court of a Magistrate at Chandigarh empowered under section 210, which may order investigation under section 175(3). Title and possession remain questions for the civil court at Chandigarh, and an appeal from its decree lies to the District Judge, Chandigarh, or to the Punjab and Haryana High Court where the value of the suit takes it there.
PERSONAL DATA NOTICE
This notice is given under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023.
The purpose of collecting the personal data in this complaint is to identify the complainant, the persons said to have trespassed and the witnesses, and to record the property and the incident, so that the police can record the information and investigate it.
The record will be held by __________ and may be shared with the complainant, the police station and its investigating officer, the Superintendent of Police, the Magistrate and any court that tries the offence, and the complainant's advocate.
If the matter does not proceed, the personal data will be retained for 90 days and then erased. If the matter proceeds, the record will be retained for the transaction or authority matter plus 12 months, except where a statute requires a longer named retention period.
A person named in this document may request correction or erasure where the purpose has ended, withdraw consent for future consent-based processing, or raise a grievance by writing to __________. The record-holder should acknowledge and reply within 30 days.
Data minimisation: this document does not collect a full Aadhaar number, an Aadhaar-card copy, a password or bank credentials.
Personal-data instruction: __________.
SIGNATURE
Complainant: __________