Firstly, I may point out that a Railway Protection Force (RPF) officer has the power to conduct personal search of a person and of his belongings, without warrant, under the provisions of Section 13 of the Railway Protection Force Act, 1957, where such person is involved in an offence referred to in Section 12 of the said Act. However, this provision relates to search of the person and his belongings and it does NOT relate to the search of some premises.
Secondly, under the provisions of the Railway Property (Unlawful Possession) Act, 1966, the RPF officers have been given certain powers of inquiry with regard to certain offences of theft, dishonest misappropriation or unlawful possession of railway property. Under the provisions of this Act, an RPF officer may exercise the same powers and shall be subject to the same provisions as the officer in charge of a police station may exercise and is subject to under the Code of Criminal Procedure, when investigating a cognizable case. Now, since the officer in charge of a police station, while investigating a cognizable case has the power to conduct search in any premises even without warrant from the court in the circumstances mentioned in Sections 165 and 166 of the Criminal Procedure, it would thus appear that an RPF officer may also have the power to conduct search, without warrant, in certain premises which are subject matter of his inquiry under the provisions of Railway Property (Unlawful Possession) Act, 1966, as mentioned above, subject to the conditions mentioned in Section 165/166 of the Cr.P.C. In addition, this Act also lays down provisions for the RPF officer to obtain search warrant from the Magistrate to conduct searches for the purposes of the said Act.
Thus, under the above limited circumstances, an RPF officer may have power to conduct search of certain premises even without warrant for the purposes of inquiry into offences relating to theft, dishonest misappropriation or unlawful possession of railway property, as provided under the Railway Property (Unlawful Possession) Act, 1966.
Dr. Ashok Dhamija is a New Delhi based Supreme Court Advocate and author of law books. Read more about him by clicking here. List of his Forum Replies. List of his other articles. List of his Quora Answers. List of his YouTube Videos.
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