The Bombay Borstal Schools Act, 1929

(1) This Act may be called the Bombay Borstal Schools Act, 1929. (2) It extends to the whole of the State of Bombay.

Extent and commencement 2. 4[(1) It extends to the whole of the State of Maharashtra. ]

1. (2) It shall come into operation 5[in the pre-Reorganisation State of Bombay] on such date as the 6[7[State] Government] may, by notification in the 8[Official Gazette], appoint 9[in this behalf ; and in the Vidarbha and Hyderabad areas of the State of Maharashtra, it shall come into operation on the commencement of the Bombay Borstal Schools (Extension and Amendment) Act, 1960.]

3. In this Act, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context, (a) " Borstal school " means a place in which young offenders, whilst detained in pursuance of this Act, are given such industrial training and other instruction and are subjected to such disciplinary and moral influences as will conduce to their reformation and the prevention of crime ;

1. (b) " Inspector-General " means the Inspector-General of Prisons and includes 1[a Deputy Inspector-General of Prisons to whom the Inspector General may delegate all or any of his duties under this Act, with the prior approval of the State Government, and also] any officer appointed by the 2[3[State] Government] to perform all or any of the duties imposed by this Act on the Inspector-Geenral ;
2. (c) " Prescribed " means prescribed by rules made under this Act.

4. (1) For the purposes of this Act the 2[3[State] Government] Government] may establish one or more Borstal schools. 4[(1A) For every Borstal school, there shall be a Principal and such other officers and servants as the State Government thinks necessary.]

1. (2) For every Borstal school, a visiting committee shall be appointed in such manner as may be prescribed.

5. Subject to any alterations, adaptations, and exceptions made by this Act and the rules framed under it, the 5Prisons Act, 1894, and the Prisoners Act, 1900 and the rules framed thereunder shall apply in the case of every Borstal school established under this Act as if it were a prison 6[the inmates prisoners and the Principal Superintendent].

6. When an offender is found guilty of an offence for which he is liable to be sentenced to transportation or imprisonment, or is liable to imprisonment for failure to furnish security under Chapter VIII of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898, whether any previous conviction is proved against him or not, and it appears to the Court, (a) that the offender is not less than sixteen or, in any district or place in which 7[the Bombay Children Act 1948, the Central Provinces and Berar Children Act, 1928 or the Hyderabad Children Act, 1951], is not in operation less than fifteen, nor more than twenty-one years of age, and

1. (b) that by reason of his criminal habits or tendencies or association with persons of bad character it is expedient that he should be subject to detention for such term and under such instruction and discipline as appears most conducive to his reformation, it shall be lawful for the Court, if empowered in this behalf, to pass, in lieu of a sentence of transportation or imprisonment or of an order of imprisonment under section 123 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898, an order for the detention of the offender in a Borstal school 1[established under this Act or subject to the provisions of section 13-A, in a Borstal school in any other 2[State] in 3*India] for such term, not being less than 4[three] years nor more than five years, as the Court subject to rules made under this Act, thinks fit : Provided that before passing such an order the Court shall give an opportunity to the parents or guardians of the said offender to be heard and shall consider any report or representation which may be made to it as to the suitability of the case for treatment in 5[such Borstal school], and shall be satisfied that the character, state of health and mental condition of the offender and the other circumstances of the case, are such that the offender is likely to profit by such instruction and discipline as aforesaid.

7.

Courts empowered to pass order for detention 8. The powers conferred on Courts by this Act shall be exercised only by the High Court, a Court of Session, 8 * * * * a salaried Presidency Magistrate, or a Magistrate of the first class and may be exercised by such Courts whether the case comes before them originally, or on appeal or in revision.

9. (1) When any Magistrate not empowered to pass an order for detention under this Act is of the opinion that an offender who has been found guilty by him or who has failed to furnish the security which the Magistrate has ordered him to furnish under Chapter VIII of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898, is a proper person to be detained in a Borstal school, he may, without passing any order, record such opinion and submit his proceedings and forward the offender to the 9[Magistrate of the first class] or the Chief Presidency Magistrate, as the case may be, to whom he is subordinate.

1. (2) The 9[Magistrate of the first class] or Chief Presidency Magistrate to whom the proceedings are so submitted may transfer the proceedings to any Magistrate subordinate to him competent to pass an order under this Act, or, as the case may be, to a salaried Presidency Magistrate.
2. (3) The 9[Magistrate of the first class] or Chief Presidency Magistrate to whom the proceedings are so submitted or any Magistrate to whom the proceedings are so transferred may make such further enquiry (if any) as he may think fit and may pass such order for the detention of the offender in a Borstal school, or such other sentence or order, as he might have passed if such offender had originally been brought before or tried by him.

10. Any offender detained in a Borstal school for failure to furnish security when ordered to do so under section 106 or section 118 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898, shall be released on furnishing such security or on the passing of an order under section 124 of the said Code.

12. (1) Where an offender detained ¹[by a Court] in a Borstal school escapes, or is reported to the ²[³[State] Government] by the Inspector-General to be incorrigible or to exercise ⁴[or to be likely to exercise] a bad influence on the other inmates of the school, ⁵[or to be more than twenty years of age], ⁶[⁷* * * * * * * or is, in the opinion of the ³[State] Government, otherwise unsuitable for training in a Borstal school], the ²[³[State] Government] may commute the unexpired residue of the term of detention to such term of imprisonment of either description as the ²[³[State] Government] may determine, but in no case exceeding the shorter of the following two periods :, (a) the unexpired residue of the term of detention, or

1. (b) the maximum period of imprisonment provided by law for the offence of which the offender was found guilty or the failure to give security, as the case may be, in consequence of which the offender was ordered to be detained in a Borstal school ⁸* * * *

1. (2) Such offender may be confined in any prison within the ⁹[State of Maharashtra] by warrant under the hand of a Secretary to ¹⁰[the ²[State] Government] and effect shall be given to such warrant and the sentence of imprisonment passed upon such offender shall be executed in the same manner as if such person had been sentenced by a competent court of criminal jurisdiction.

13. (1) Every offender ordered to be detained in a Borstal school shall be detained in such Borstal school as the 2[3[State] Government] may, by general or special order, or in the prescribed manner, appoint for the reception of persons so ordered to be detained :

Provided that, if accommodation in a Borstal school is not immediately available for such offender, he may be detained in a special ward, or such other suitable part of a prison as the 2[3[State] Government] may direct until he can be sent to a Borstal school. The period of detention so undergone shall be treated as detention in a Borstal school.

1. (2) The 1[Inspector-General] may order the removal of any offender from any one Borstal school to any other Borstal school, 2[established under this Act or to a Borstal school in any other 3[State] in 4* * * India] 5* * * * provided that the whole period of his detention in a Borstal school shall not be increased by such removal.

10[13B. (1) If an offender detained in a Borstal school is suffering from any illness and the Inspector-General is satisfied that it is not possible to render to him proper medical care or treatment in the school, the Inspector-General may provide for the removal of such offender to any civil hospital in the 3[State] for the purpose of undergoing medical treatment and for his return to the school after such treatment is undergone.

1. (2) The period during which an offender is absent from a Borstal school under sub-section (1) shall, for the purposes of computing his term of detention in the school, be deemed to be part of that detention.]

14. (1) Subject to the prescribed conditions, the Inspector-General may, on the recommendation of the Visiting Committee, at any time after the expiration of six months from the commencement of the detention of an offender in a Borstal school, if he is satisfied that there is a reasonable probability that the offender will abstain from crime and lead a useful and industrious life, discharge him from the Borstal school and grant him a written licence in the prescribed form and on the prescribed conditions permitting him to live under the supervision and authority of such--

1. (a) [Government officer],
2. (b) secular institution,
3. (c) religious society, or
4. (d) responsible person, as may be approved by the Inspector-General and willing to take charge of the offender. [(1A) The Inspector-General may, subject to the prescribed conditions, discharge any offender who had been previously granted a licence but whose licence was subsequently revoked under section 15 and grant him a fresh written licence and in such case the provisions of this Act shall apply as if such fresh licence had been granted under sub-section (1).]

1. (2) A licence 17B. [Deleted]

18. Any offender who, in contravention of the provisions of this Act, has escaped from a Borstal school ⁷[or has escaped from a civil hospital to which he was removed for treatment under section 13B] or has escaped from the supervision of any authority, institution, society or person under whose supervision he has been directed to remain, or has been permitted to live by licence under section 14, ⁸[or has committed a breach of any of the conditions imposed under section 17A] may be arrested by any officer of Police without warrant and without the order of a Magistrate and sent back to the Borstal school ⁷[or to the civil hospital] or to such authority, institution, society or person, as the case may be.

5[22. On the commencement of the Bombay Borstal Schools (Extension and Amendment) Act, 1960, the Central Provinces and Berar Borstal Act, 1928, in its application to the Vidarbha region of the State of Maharashtra, and the Hyderabad Borstal Schools Act, 1956, in its application to the Hyderabad area of the State of Maharashtra, shall stand repealed :

Provided that, the repeal shall not affect, (a) the previous operation of any of the laws so repealed, or

1. (b) any right, privilege, obligation or liability acquired, accrued or incurred under any of the laws so repealed, or
2. (c) any penalty, forfeiture or punishment incurred in respect of any offence committed against any of the laws so repealed, or
3. (d) any investigation, legal proceeding or remedy in respect of any such right, privilege, obligation, liability, penalty, forfeiture or punishment, as aforesaid, and any such investigation, legal proceeding or remedy may be instituted, continued or enforced, and any such penalty, forfeiture or punishment may be imposed as if the Bombay Borstal Schools (Extension and Amendment) Act, 1960 had not commenced in the area in which the repealed law was in force : Provided further that, subject to the preceding proviso, anything done or any action taken (including any appointment made, detention order passed, notification, order or direction issued, rule or form framed, licence or certificate granted) under any such law shall, in so far as it is not inconsistent with this Act, be deemed to have been done or taken under the corresponding provisions of this Act, and shall continue to be in force accordingly, unless and until superseded by anything done or any action taken under this Act.]