Arrest
involves the restriction of liberty of a person arrested and therefore, infringes
the basic human rights of liberty. Nevertheless the Constitution of India as
well as International human rights law recognize the power of the State to
arrest any person as a part of its primary role of maintaining law and order.
The Constitution requires a just, fair and reasonable procedure established by the law under which alone such deprivation of liberty is permissible. Although
Article 22(1) of the Constitution provides that every person placed under
arrest shall be informed as soon as may be the ground of arrest and shall not
be denied the right to consult and be defended by a lawyer of his choice and
S.50 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (Cr. PC) requires a police officer
arresting any person to “ forthwith communicate to him full particulars of the
offence for which he is arrested or other grounds for such arrest”. in actual practice
these requirements are observed more in the breach. Likewise, the requirement
of production of the arrested person before the court promptly which is
mandated both under the Constitution [Article22(2)] and the Cr. PC (Section 57]
is also not adhered to strictly.
A
large number of complaints pertaining to Human Rights violations are in the
area of abuse of police powers, particularly those of arrest and detention. It
has, therefore, become necessary, with a view to narrowing the gap between law
and practice, to prescribe guidelines regarding arrest even while at the same
time not unduly curtailing the power of the police to effectively maintain and
enforce law and order and proper investigation.
GUIDELINES
LAID DOWN BY THE HON'BLE SUPREME COURT IN D.K. BASU CASE:
The
Hon'ble Supreme Court, in D.K. Basu Vs State of West Bengal , has laid down
specific guidelines required to be followed while making arrests.
THE
HON'BLE SUPREME COURT GUIDELINES on arrest:
The
principles laid down by the Hon'ble Supreme Court are given here under:
(i)
The police personnel carrying out the arrest and handling the interrogation of
the arrestee should bear accurate, visible and clear identification and name
tags with their designations. The particulars of all such police personnel who
handle interrogation of the arrestee should bear accurate, visible and clear
identification and name tags with their designation. The particular of all such
personnel who handle interrogation of the arrestee must be recorded in a
register.
(ii)
That the police officer carrying out the arrest shall prepare a memo of arrest
at the time of arrest and such memo shall be attested by at least one witness,
who may be either a member of the family of the arrestee or a respectable
person of the locality from where the arrest is made. It shall also be counter
signed by the arrestee and shall contain the time and date of arrest.
(iii)
A person who has been arrested or detained and is being held in custody in a
police station or interrogation centre or other lock up, shall be entitled to
have one friend or relative or other person known to him or having interest in
his welfare being informed, as soon as practicable, that he has been arrested
and is being detained at the particular place, unless the attesting witness of
the memo of arrest is himself such a friend or a relative of the arrestee.
(iv)
The time, place of arrest and venue of custody of an arrestee must be notified
by the police where the next friend or relative of the arrestee lives outside
the district or town through the Legal Aids Organization in the District and
the police station of the area concerned telegraphically within a period of 8
to 12 hours after the arrest.
(v)
The person arrested must be made aware of his right to have someone informed of
his arrest or detention as soon as he is put under arrest or is detained.
(vi)
An entry must be made in the diary at the place of detention regarding the
arrest of the person which shall also disclosed the name of the next friend of
the person who has been informed of the arrest and the names land particulars
of the police officials in whose custody the arrestee is.
(vii)
The arrestee should, where he so request, be also examines at the time of his
arrest and major and minor injuries, if any present on his /her body, must be
recorded at that time. The Inspector Memo' must be signed both by the arrestee
and the police officer effecting the arrest and its copy provided to the
arrestee.
(viii)
The arrestee should be subjected to medical examination by the trained doctor
every 48 hours during his detention In custody by a doctor on the panel of
approved doctor appointed by Director, Health Services of the concerned State
or Union Territory, Director, Health Services should prepare such a panel for all
Tehsils and Districts as well.
(ix)
Copies of all the documents including the memo of arrest, referred to above,
should be sent to the Magistrate for his record.
(x)
The arrestee may be permitted to meet his lawyer during interrogation, though
not throughout the interrogation.
(xi)
A police control room should be provided at all district and State headquarters
where information regarding the arrest and the place of custody of the arrestee
shall be communicated by the officer causing the arrest, within 12 hours of
effecting the arrest and at the police control room it should be displayed on a
conspicuous notice board.
