HC asks state to ensure compliance with safeguards during arrests

Cuttack: In a significant ruling aimed at streamlining procedures relating to arrests made outside a court’s territorial jurisdiction, the Orissa high court on Monday issued a set of mandatory guidelines to the state administration while granting bail to an accused on the ground that he was illegally detained for more than 24 hours before being produced in court.Justice Gourishankar Satapathy, directed the home department, director general of police and all criminal courts in the state to ensure compliance with constitutional safeguards relating to arrest and detention under Article 22(2) of the Constitution and provisions of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS).The court ruled that whenever a person is arrested without warrant outside the state or beyond the jurisdiction of the investigating court and cannot be produced before the jurisdictional court within 24 hours, the accused must first be produced before the nearest judicial magistrate. The arresting officer must thereafter obtain transit remand before shifting the accused to the jurisdictional court.Among other directions, the HC said police officers making arrests outside the state must immediately inform the jurisdictional court electronically about the date, time and place of arrest, besides informing local police authorities and ensuring necessary diary entries are made at the nearest police station.The directions came while hearing a bail plea argued by advocate Manas Kumar Chand in connection with a case registered at Raighar police station on March 14, 2024. The case related to arrest of an accused (the petitioner) for allegedly raping a woman — one of the labourers from Nabarangpur district who were taken to brick kilns in Andhra Pradesh.The HC observed that the actual apprehension at 4 pm on March 16 had to be treated as the point of arrest for calculating the statutory 24-hour period. Excluding travel time, the accused remained in custody for nearly 32 hours before being produced in court. “The arrest and detention of the petitioner can be well considered to be illegal,” Justice Satapathy observed while granting him bail on a bond of Rs 50,000 with two solvent sureties.According to an affidavit submitted by IIC, Raighar police station, the police team travelled to Andhra Pradesh and apprehended the accused at 4 pm on March 16. The team started its return journey at 9 pm the same day and reached Raighar police station at 7 am on March 18. Though police formally showed his arrest at 2 pm on March 18, he was produced in the local court only at 10 am on March 19.