New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has said that providing the grounds of arrest to the person being arrested is of utmost sanctity and significance as this information serves as the fundamental basis for the arrested individual to seek legal advice, challenge the remand, and apply for bail and asked the Delhi Police Commissioner to ensure that a column for providing grounds of arrest to an accused is included in the arrest memos.
Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma noted that there is no column in the arrest memo for recording the grounds of the arrest related to the accused and said that there is an urgent need to update the Arrest memo forms being used.
“This court considers that a revised arrest memo form or some annexures are to be added to ensure effective compliance with section 50 CrPC and the corresponding section 47 of BNSS, 2023. The Commissioner of Delhi Police may ensure that necessary actions are taken for the said modification,” the High Court said.
High Court ordered release of accused arrested by Delhi Police on November 4
Justice Sharma said this while ordering release of a person seeking declaration of his arrest on November 4 and all consequential proceedings arising out of a First Information Report (FIR) dated January 12, 2023 registered on the complaint of his wife as illegal, arbitrary and void.
What did the accused say?
The counsel representing the petitioner submitted to the court that his arrest by the investigating agency was carried out in contravention of the principles of law, as the grounds for arrest were not communicated to him and the investigating agency failed to comply with the mandatory requirements of section 50 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and the arrest memo prepared at the time of his arrest did not disclose any grounds of arrest.
What did the Delhi Police submit?
The counsel representing the Delhi Police submitted that although the arrest memo did not explicitly state the grounds of arrest specific to the petitioner but these grounds were duly conveyed to him and were elaborated in the remand application filed on November 5, a copy of which was also provided to him and that the Metropolitan Magistrate granted the remand only after hearing submissions from both parties. The counsel further said that the FIR in the present case was registered in January 2023 and the petitioner’s arrest occurred only in November 2024 due to his non-cooperation during the investigation and his arrest was deemed necessary to facilitate the investigation’s progress and to secure critical material evidence essential to the case.
The High Court considered whether the grounds for the arrest of the petitioner were duly communicated in compliance with section 50 of the CrPC and the judgment of the Supreme Court.
Law mandates police to inform arrested individual grounds for arrest: High Court
The High Court said that the law mandates the police officer to inform the arrested individual of the full particulars of the offence or the grounds for arrest and the requirement to convey these details is not a mere formality but a fundamental safeguard to uphold the individual’s right to liberty under the Constitution of India.
“It is no longer res integra that grounds of arrest must be communicated in writing to the arrested individual expeditiously. Providing the grounds of arrest to the person being arrested is of utmost sanctity and significance. This information serves as the fundamental basis for the arrested individual to seek legal advice, challenge the remand, and apply for bail,” the High Court said.
Arrest memo fails to communicate grounds for arrest in relation to petitioner: High Court
The High Court said that the arrest memo fails to communicate the grounds for arrest in relation to the petitioner and though the remand application details the complete facts and investigation, it does not specify the grounds of arrest at the time the arrest was effected and this omission constitutes a direct violation of section 50 of CrPC.
“Let the petitioner be released forthwith if not required in any other case on furnishing a bail bond of Rs.50,000 with two sureties of the like amount subject to the conditions to be imposed by the learned trial court,” the High Court ordered the release of the petitioner while holding his arrest illegal.
Order of release has been passed on technical non-compliance of section 50 of CrPC, High Court clarified
The High Court, however, made it clear that the present order has been passed for release of the petitioner on the technical non-compliance of section 50 of CrPC and has not gone into merits of the case.
“The prosecution/victim shall all the necessary liberties to proceed with the investigation and take all the steps for smooth investigation of the case in accordance with law. This court has examined facts of this case only in perspective of section 50 CrPC, which is akin to section 47 of BNSS, 2024,” the High court said.
