Rights of Arrested Person Every indian citizen and foreigner in India is guaranteed several Fundamental Rights under the Indian Constitu...
Rights
of Arrested Person
Every indian citizen and foreigner in India is
guaranteed several Fundamental Rights under the Indian Constitution. Right to
life and liberty is one of them. Arrest of a person on apprehension of a crime
seriously undermines one’s right to life and liberty. Therefore, the Hon’ble
Supreme Court of India has extensively elaborated Rights of the Arrested
Persons on several occasions. Even an arrested person has certain human-rights
and the same can be found in Constitution as well as the Criminal Procedure
Code, 1973.
Rights of an
arrested person come into play from the very moment any Police Officer
questions him, searches him, seizes any evidence for further investigation, and
makes the arrest. As mentioned earlier, arrest of a person can be violative of
his fundamental right to life and liberty stated under Article 21 of the
Constitution of India. Such arrest can be made only according to the procedure
established by law and such procedure must be just, fair and reasonable in all
spheres and not constitute arbitrariness and oppression.
Arrest becomes necessary when there is an
apprehension of commission of any crime by an individual. His arrest is a form
of preventive action which precludes him from doing any harm. However, the
powers given to the Police are not absolute and are subject to various
restraints in favour of the Arrested Person. It is important to note here that
arrest can be made on basis of an Arrest Warrant, and in some cases, without an
arrest warrant as well. Serious offences, such as those involving a punishment
of more than three years are usually categorized as cognizable offences. The
Police authorities are allowed to make arrests without a warrant in case of
such offences. The Police can also make an arrest where a person is trying to
obstruct the investigation process, for example, a person refusing to share his
personal details to aid investigation, or the probable offender flees the
Police, or tampers with evidence etc.
First and foremost, Article 22(1) of the Constitution of India
provides that a person shall not be arrested without informing him the grounds
of his arrest. Under section 50 of Cr.PC it is provided that every person who
is arrested shall be informed about the grounds of his arrest by the officer
arresting him and section 50A imposes a duty upon the officer arresting to give
information about the arrest to the friends and relatives of the arrested
person as soon as the person is put under custody.
Section 55 and 75 of CrPC specifies that whenever
any subordinate has been authorised by the police officer to arrest a person
without warrant, the subordinate officer must notify the substance of arrest
and show him the warrant of arrest, if required.
Separate rights are available with female offenders.
The general rule suggests that under no circumstance, a woman shall be arrested
by any male police officer, subject to certain exceptions. Also, separate
custodial rooms are provided to them. Section 46 of CrPC mandates that a police
officer shall not arrest a woman after sunset and before sunrise; but in case
it is important to arrest her, then a female police officer must obtain prior
permission of the magistrate.
Section 22(2) of the Constitution of India provides
that the police officer arresting a person is duty bound to produce the person
arrested within twenty four hours of his arrest, failing which, the arrest will
amount to wrongful detention and the police officer can be held liable for
doing so. Section 76 of CrPC provides for the procedure as to the production of
arrested person without any undue delay and the time required to take the
person from police station to the magistrate is excluded from this twenty four
hours time period. Section 50(2) CrPC provides that if a person is arrested for
any non cognizable offence, the police officer shall give information as to his
right to get released on bail and make appropriate arrangements as to his
surety. Article 22 (1) of the constitution and section 303 of CrPC also
provides for the right of an arrested person of the appointment of a legal
practitioner of his choice, who will defend him in the court of law. Also,
during interrogation an arrested person has a right to be consulted by a lawyer
of his choice which is enunciated under section 41D of CrPC.
In Nandini Sathpathy vs P.L.Dani, the
Supreme Court observed that every arrested person has a right to get Remain
Silent, as guaranteed under Article 20(3) of the Constitution. This also means
that the Police cannot forcefully extract any confession from the accused or
arrested person during interrogation. Article 14 of the Constitution provides
for equality before law and states that the principles of natural justice are
to be kept in mind when a person is produced before the court of law. Also the right
to speedy trial is an intrinsic right of an arrested person.
Thus, it is expedient to say that an arrested person
has numerous rights available with him and Indian law keeps a healthy eye on
their implementation through relevant authorities. Protection from
self-incriminating statements, equality before law and other legal rights
available with the arrested person depicts the flexible nature of India’s
justice delivery system.
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