Judiciary takes police to task over 'illegal' arrests

LETTER OF LAW | A string of recent cases have seen the courts come down hard on police and investigative agencies for not communicating the 'grounds of arrest' to the accused

- Charul Shah Joshi & Urvi Mahaj

Gone are the days when cops would pick up a person, detain them illegally and arrest them as per their own convenience. This year courts were tough on cops.

Section 41A was added to the Criminal Procedure Code way back in 2010. It curtailed the power of the police to arrest, but the provisions were conveniently ignored for the longest time, until this year.

Section 41A, and its corresponding provision, Section 35 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, made it mandatory for police to issue a notice to the accused asking him/her to join the investigation. If the person complies with the provisions, the officer should not arrest him.

Besides, the law which has now emerged makes it mandatory for the officer to give grounds of arrest in writing to the accused, failing which the arrest is held to be illegal.