Village-headmen, accountants, landholders and others bound to report certain matters

(1) Every village-headman, village-accountant, village watchman, village police-officer, owner or occupier of land, and the agent of any such owner or occupier in charge of the management of that land, and every officer employed in the collection of revenue or rent of land on the part of the Government or the Court of Wards, shall forthwith communicate to the nearest Magistrate or to the officer in charge of the nearest police-station whichever is the nearer, any information which he may possess respecting-

(a) the permanent or temporary residence of any notorious receiver or vendor of stolen property in any village of which he is headman , accountant, watchman or police-officer, or in which he owns or occupies land, or is agent, or collects revenue or rent;

(b) the resort to any place within, or the passage through, such village of any person whom he knows, or reasonably suspects to be a thug, robber, escaped convict or proclaimed offender;

(c) the commission of, or intention to commit, in or near such village any non-bailable offence or any offence punishable under section 143, 144, 145, 147, or 148 of the Penal Code;

(d) the occurrence in or near such village of any sudden or unnatural death or of any death under suspicious circumstances; or the discovery in or near such village of any corpse or part of a corpse, in circumstances which lead to a reasonable suspicion that such a death has occurred or the disappearance from such village of any person in circumstances which lead to a reasonable suspicion that a non-bailable offence has been committed in respect of such person;

(e) the commission of, or intention to commit, at any place out of Bangladesh near such village any act which, if committed in Bangladesh, would be an offence punishable under any of the following sections of the Penal Code, namely, 231, 232, 233, 234, 235, 236, 237, 238, 302, 304, 382, 392, 393, 394, 395, 396, 397, 398, 399, 402, 435, 436, 449, 450, 457, 458, 459, 460, 489A, 489B, 489C, and 489D;

(f) any matter likely to affect the maintenance of order or the prevention of crime or the safety of person or property respecting which the District Magistrate, by general or special order made with the previous sanction of the Government, has directed him to communicate information.

(2) In this section-

(i) "village" includes village-lands; and

(ii) the expression "proclaimed offender" includes any person proclaimed as an offender by any Court or authority established or continued by the Government in any part of Bangladesh, in respect of any act which if committed in Bangladesh, would be punishable under any of the following sections of the Penal Code, namely, 302, 304, 382, 392, 393, 394, 395, 396, 397, 398, 399, 402, 435, 436, 449, 450, 457, 458, 459 and 460.

Appointment of village-headman by District Magistrate ⁶⁹[∗∗∗] in certain cases for purposes of this section

(3) Subject to rules in this behalf to be made by the Government, the District Magistrate ⁷⁰[∗∗∗] may from time to time appoint one or more persons with his or their consent to perform the duties of a village-headman under this section whether a village-headman has or has not been appointed for that village under any other law.

⁶⁹ The words “or Sub-divisional Magistrate” were omitted by section 21 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Act, 2009 (Act No. XXXII of 2009) (with effect from 1st November, 2007).

⁷⁰ The words “or Sub-divisional Magistrate” were omitted by section 21 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Act, 2009 (Act No. XXXII of 2009) (with effect from 1st November, 2007).