Amendment of section 103.
71. In section 103 of the Customs Act, ––
(i) for sub-section (1), the following sub-section shall be substituted, namely:–
“(1) Where the proper officer has reason to believe that any person referred to in sub-section (2) of section 100 has any goods liable to confiscation secreted inside his body, he may detain such person and shall,––
(a) with the prior approval of the Deputy Commissioner of Customs or Assistant Commissioner of Customs, as soon as practicable, screen or scan such person using such equipment as may be available at the customs station, but without prejudice to any of the rights available to such person under any other law for the time being in force, including his consent for such screening or scanning, and forward a report of such screening or scanning to the nearest magistrate if such goods appear to be secreted inside his body; or
(b) produce him without unnecessary delay before the nearest magistrate.”;
(ii) in sub-section (6), after the words “Where on receipt of a report”, the words, brackets, letter and figure “from the proper officer under clause (a) of sub-section (1) or” shall be inserted.
Notes on Clauses:
Clause 71 of the Bill seeks to substitute sub-section (1) and to amend sub-section (6) of section 103 of the Customs Act. The proposed amendment to sub-section (1) seeks to enable the proper officer to scan or screen with prior approval of Deputy Commissioner of Customs or Assistant Commissioner of Customs any person referred to in sub-section (2) of section 100 who has any goods liable to confiscation secreted inside his body. The proposed amendment to sub-section (6) seeks to enable the magistrate to take action upon the report of scanning or screening by the proper officer also.
