The Allahabad High Court has said that the police not supplying persons accused of crimes the grounds of their arrest had become a “routine practice”.
This violated directives issued by the Supreme Court, said Justice Arun Kumar Singh Deshwal in a judgement issued on May 22. The judge granted bail to a man accused of murder.
The man, Sandeep Baisoya, had been in jail since January 13. He told the court in his petition that neither were the grounds of his arrest supplied to him, nor was a disclosure memo prepared before he was taken to a spot to recover a country-made pistol.
In November, the Supreme Court ruled that the requirement to furnish grounds of arrest when taking a person into custody applies to all offences, including those under the Indian Penal Code and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
This was “not a mere formality but a mandatory binding constitutional safeguard”, a bench of BR Gavai, the chief justice at the time, and Justice AG Masih had said.
In its affidavit filed in response to Baisoya’s plea, the Uttar Pradesh government’s counsel did not deny in court that the man had not been provided the grounds of his arrest, reported Live Law.
The state also did not mention if a disclosure memo had been prepared, as required by the Supreme Court’s directions.
Taking note of this, the court pointed out that the judicial magistrate, before granting remand of an accused, is required to ascertain whether an arrest has violated Article 22(1) of the Constitution.
Article 22(1) safeguards against arbitrary arrests and detentions by guaranteeing that persons accused of crimes are informed of the grounds for their arrest as soon as possible, and that they are defended by a legal practitioner of their choice.
Against this backdrop, the court said: “This is not only non-application of judicial mind by the judicial magistrate of Ghaziabad, but also a clear violation of the direction of the Hon’ble Apex Court.”
The judge told the judicial magistrate to be “more careful in future” and directed the Ghaziabad commissioner of police to issue “appropriate directions to his subordinate police officers”.
Baisoya was granted bail after the judge took note of the merits of the case, the procedural lapses in the matter and the fact that a co-accused had been released on bail.
Written by Sneha. Edited by Nachiket Deuskar.
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