24-hour span to produce accused before magistrate begins when the person is detained: HC

The Kerala High Court has said the 24-hour period to produce an accused before a magistrate commenced from the time the person is effectively detained or his/her liberty curtailed, and not from the time of arrest that the police recorded.

A Bench of Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas said the non-recording of arrest under one pretext or another was often resorted to under the guise of investigation. Police brutalities generally occured during these periods of uncontrolled authority. Unless there was a check, such unrecorded periods of custody could be the source of human rights violations, the court observed.

The Constitution mandates that the person arrested be produced before the nearest magistrate within 24 hours of the arrest. Other than the time needed to reach the magistrate court from the place of arrest, there is a peremptory prohibition that the person arrested shall not be detained beyond the said period without the magistrate’s authority, it said and granted bail to Biswajit Mandal of West Bengal, who had been arrayed as accused in a drug case.

Mr. Mandal contended that he was detained beyond the 24-hour period, in violation of constitutional and statutory prescriptions and had sought bail.

To decide the legal issue regarding when the 24-hour period began, the court had appointed Nikhina Thomas and Neha Babu, second-year students of Ramaiah College, Bengaluru, as amici curiae for providing assistance.