The Maharashtra Village Police Act, 1967
The Maharashtra Village Police Act, 1967
The Maharashtra Village Police Act, 1967, regulates rural law enforcement by establishing the official office of the Police-patil, a local administrator responsible for village safety. Applying across the state of Maharashtra, excluding Greater Bombay, the Act defines the specific duties of these village-level officers, which include preventing crimes, reporting local intelligence, investigating suspicious deaths, and assisting state police officers. This legislation matters because it connects remote rural communities directly with the formal state justice system, ensuring immediate security administration at the grassroots level and giving villagers a reliable, legally empowered authority to handle local emergencies and maintain public order.
- 1. Short title, extent and commencement.
- 2. Definitions.
- 3. Administration, control and direction of village police, in whom vested.
- 4. Power to depute to Superintendent or Commissioner of Police authority over village police officer.
- 5. Appointment, remuneration and other conditions of service of Police-patils.
- 6. Duties of Police-patil.
- 7. Authority over village servants.
- 8. Precautions against robbery, etc.
- 9. Penalties for neglect of duty, etc.
- 10. Liability to criminal prosecution not affected.
- 11. Power to suspend pending departmental inquiry or criminal trial.
- 12. Information to Station Officer when criminal in village has escaped or is not known.
- 13. Investigation into cases of unnatural or sudden death or corpse found within village.
- 14. Police-patil to apprehend person he believes has committed serious offence.
- 15. Power to call and examine witnesses, record evidence and search for concealed articles.
- 16. Unclaimed property.
- 17. Prosecutions under other laws for offence punishable under this Act.
- 18. Repeal and savings.
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