Arrest Rules

 

Chapter V of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 

Deals with the arrest of persons. Section 41 is the main section providing for situations when Police may arrest without warrant. It reads as follows: “

 When police may arrest without warrant.- Any police officer may without an order from a Magistrate and without a warrant, arrest any person 

a) who has been concerned in any cognizable offence, or against whom a reasonable complaint has been made or credible information has been received, or a reasonable suspicion exists, of his having been so concerned; or 

b) who has in his possession without lawful excuse, the burden of proving which excuse shall lie on such person, any implement of house-breaking; or 

c) who has been proclaimed as an offender either under this Code or by order of the State Government; or 

d) in whose possession anything is found which may reasonably be suspected to be stolen property and who may reasonably be suspected of having committed an offence with reference to such thing; or 

e) who obstructs a police officer while in the execution of his duty, or who has escaped, or attempts to escape, from lawful custody; or 1 

 f) who is reasonably suspected of being a deserter from any of the Armed Forces of the Union; or

 g) who has been concerned in, or against whom a reasonable complaint has been made, or credible information has been received, or a reasonable suspicion exists, of his having been concerned in, any act committed at any place out of India which, if committed in India, would have been punishable as an offence, and for which he is, under any law relating to extradition, or otherwise, liable to be apprehended or detained in custody in India; or

 h) who, being a released convict, commits a breach of any rule made under sub-section (5) of section 356; or

 i) for whose arrest any requisition, whether written or oral, has been received from another police officer, provided that the requisition specified the person to be arrested and the offence or other cause for which the arrest is to be made and it appears therefrom that the person might lawfully be arrested without a warrant by the officer who issued the requisition.

2. Any officer in charge of a police station may, in like manner, arrest or cause to be arrested any person, belonging to one or more of the categories of persons specified in section 109 or section 110.”

 Section 42 specifies yet another situation where a police officer can arrest a person. According to this section if a person commits an offence in the presence of a police officer or where he has been accused of committing a non-cognizable offence and refuses, on demand being made by a police officer to give his name and residence or gives false name or residence, such person may be arrested but such arrest shall be only for the limited purpose of ascertaining his name and residence. After such ascertaining, he shall be released on executing a bond with or without sureties, to appear before a magistrate if so required. In case the name and residence of such person cannot be ascertained within 24 hours from the date of arrest or if 2 such person fails to execute a bond as required, he shall be forwarded to the nearest magistrate having jurisdiction.

 Section 43 speaks of a situation where an arrest can be made by a private person and the procedure to be followed on such arrest. Section 44 deals with arrest by a magistrate. Section 45 protects the members of the Armed Forces from being arrested under sections 41 to 44. 

Section 46 -sets out the manner in which the arrest should be made and 

section 47 enables the police officer to enter a place if he has reason to believe that the person to be arrested has entered into that place or is within that place.

 Section 48 -empowers the police officers to persue the offenders into any place in India beyond their jurisdiction.

 Section 49 -however provides that “the person arrested shall not be subjected to more restraint than is necessary to prevent his escape”.

  Section 50 -(which corresponds to clause (1) of Article 22 of the Constitution) creates an obligation upon the police officer to communicate to the person arrested full particulars of the offence for which he is arrested or other grounds for such arrest forthwith. It also provides that where a person is arrested for a bailable offence without a warrant, the police officer shall inform the person arrested that he is entitled to be released on bail and that he may arrange for sureties on his behalf. 

Section 51 -provides for search of arrested person while 

section 52 -empowers the police officer to seize offensive weapons from the arrested person. 

Sections 53 and 54 - provide for medical examination of the arrested person at the request of the police officer or at the request of the arrested person, as the case may be. 

Section 55 prescribes the procedure to be followed when a police officer deputes his subordinate to arrest a person without warrant. 

Section 56 (which corresponds to clause (2) of Article 22) of the Constitution, provides that the person arrested shall not be kept in the custody of a police officer for a longer period than is reasonable and that in any event such period shall not exceed 24 hours exclusive of the time necessary for the journey from the place of arrest to the magistrate’s court. Of course if the magistrate permits the police officer to keep such person in his custody, he can do so beyond the period of 24 hours. 

Section 58  - casts an obligation upon the 3 officers in charge of police station to report to the specified authorities of arrests made without warrant within their jurisdiction and of the fact whether such persons have been admitted to bail or not. 

Section 59 - says that no person arrested by a police officer shall be discharged except on his own bond or bail or under the special order of the magistrate. 

Section 60 -which is the last section in the chapter, empowers the person having the lawful custody to pursue and retake the arrested person if he escapes or is rescued from his custody. 

 Practical aspects of sections 41 and 42, CrPC.- A reading of the above provisions and, in particular, of Sections 41 and 42 shows the width of the power of arrest vested in police officers. Take for example, the ground in clause (b) of Section 41. It empowers a police officer to arrest a person who is in possession of “any implement of house breaking” and the burden is placed upon that person to satisfy that possession of such implement is not without “lawful excuse”. What does an “implement of house breaking” mean? Any iron/steel rod or any implement used by way-side repairers of punctured tyres can also be used for house breaking. Similarly, clause (d). Any person found in possession of stolen property “and who may be reasonably suspected of having committed an offence with reference to such thing.” What a wide discretion? Why, take clause (a) itself. The situations covered by it are: 

(i) a person who is “concerned in any cognizable offence”, 

(ii), a person against whom a reasonable complaint is made that he is “concerned in a cognizable offence”;

 (iii) a person against whom “credible information” is received showing that he is “concerned in any cognizable offence” and 

(iv) a person who is reasonably suspected of being “concerned in any cognizable offence”.

 The generality of language and the consequent wide discretion vesting in police officers is indeed enormous – and that has been the very source of abuse and misuse. The qualifying words “reasonable”, “credible” and “reasonably” in the Section mean nothing in practice. They have become redundant; in effect. 

 Wider powers of arrest under section 151, CrPC.- Added to these provisions are the preventive provisions in the Code of Criminal Procedure which empower the police to arrest persons. Section 151 empowers a police officer to arrest any person, without orders from a Magistrate and without warrant, “if it appears to such officer” that such person is designing to commit a cognizable offence and that the commission of offence cannot be prevented otherwise. We do not think it necessary to emphasise the width of the power. It may be true that the satisfaction of the police officer contemplated by the expression “if it appears to such officer” is not subjective but is objective but in India, police officers making a wrongful arrest whether under section 41 or 151, are seldom proceeded against – much less punished. There are too many risks involved in doing so. 

Large number of persons arrested under sections 107 to 110, CrPC.- There is yet another category viz., sections 107 to 110 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. These sections empower the Magistrate to call upon a person, in situations/circumstances stated therein, to execute a bond to keep peace or to be on good behaviour. These provisions do not empower a police officer to arrest such persons. Yet, the fact remains (a fact borne out by the facts and figures referred to hereinafter) that large number of persons are arrested under these provisions as well. And we are speaking of vast discretion not in a civil service officer but in a member of armed force though technically speaking, it is also a civil service. 

 Constitutional protection.- Clause (1) of Article 22 of the Constitution which is one of the fundamental rights in Part III, declares that “no person who is arrested shall be detained in custody without having informed, as soon as maybe, on the grounds for such arrest nor shall he be denied the right to consult and to be defended by a legal practitioner of his choice.” Clause (2) of Article 22 says that every person arrested and detained in custody shall be produced before the nearest magistrate within a period of 24 hours of such arrest excluding of course the time necessary for the journey from the place of arrest to the court of magistrate. The clause further 5 declares that no such person shall be detained in custody beyond the said period without the authority of a magistrate. Clause (3) of Article 22 however provides that clauses (1) and (2) shall not apply to an enemy-alien or to a person who has been arrested under any law providing for preventive detention. 

 Misuse of power of arrest.- Notwithstanding the safeguards contained in the Code of Criminal Procedure and the Constitution referred to above, the fact remains that the power of arrest is wrongly and illegally exercised in a large number of cases all over the country. Very often this power is utilized to extort monies and other valuable property or at the instance of an enemy of the person arrested. Even in case of civil disputes, this power is being resorted to on the basis of a false allegation against a party to a civil dispute at the instance of his opponent. The vast discretion given by the CrPC to arrest a person even in the case of a bailable offence (not only where the bailable offence is cognizable but also where it is non-cognizable) and the further power to make preventive arrests (e.g. under section 151 of the CrPC and the several city police enactments), clothe the police with extraordinary power which can easily be abused. Neither there is any in-house mechanism in the police department to check such misuse or abuse nor does the complaint of such misuse or abuse to higher police officers bear fruit except in some exceptional cases. We must repeat that we are not dealing with the vast discretionary powers of a mere civil service simpliciter, we are dealing with the vast discretionary powers of the members of a service which is provided with firearms, which are becoming more and more sophisticated with each passing day (which is technically called a civil service for the purposes of Service Jurisprudence) and whose acts touch upon the liberty and freedom of the citizens of this country and not merely their entitlements and properties. This is a civil service which is being increasingly militarized, no doubt, to meet the emerging exigencies. 

Balancing of societal interests and protection of rights of the accused.- We are not unaware that crime rate is going up in our country for various reasons which 6 need not be recounted here. Terrorism, drugs and organized crime have become so acute that special measures have become necessary to fight them not only at the national level but also at the international level. We also take note of the fact that quite a number of policemen risk their lives in discharge of their duties and that they are specially targeted by the criminal and terrorist gangs. We recognize that in certain situations e.g., like the one obtaining in Kashmir today, a literal compliance with several legal and constitutional safeguards may not be practicable but we must also take note of and provide for the generality of the situation all over the country and not be deflected by certain specific, temporary situations. We must also take note of the fact that very often it is the poor who suffer most at the hands of Police. Their poverty itself makes them suspects. This was said, though from a different angle, by George Bernard Shaw. He said “poverty is crime”. But nowadays, even middle classes and other well-to-do people, who do not have access to political power-wielders, also are becoming targets of Police excesses. We recognize that ensuring a balance between societal interest in peace and protection of the rights of the accused is a difficult one but it has to be done. We also recognize the fundamental significance of the Human Rights, which are implicit in Part III of our Constitution and of the necessity to preserve, protect and promote the Rule of Law which constitutes the bedrock of our constitutional system. 

Guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court.- The effort of the courts, and in particular of the Supreme Court over the last more than two decades has been to circumscribe the vast discretionary power vested by law in Police by imposing several safeguards and to regulate it by laying down numerous guidelines and by subjecting the said power to several conditionalities. The effort throughout has been to prevent its abuse while leaving it free to discharge the functions entrusted to the Police. While it is not necessary to refer to all of them for the purpose of this working paper, it would be sufficient if we refer to a few of them (which indeed reaffirm and recapitulate the directions and guidelines contained in earlier decisions). In Joginder Kumar v. State of U.P. (AIR 1994 SC 1349), the power of arrest and its 7 exercise has been dealt with at length.

Source: Ministry of Law and Justice,(GOI)