Thrown into the bin.
The arrest is not automatic. In the crimes with punishment less than 7 years of jail term, a notice must be given to the accused. Otherwise, the police can arrest an accused with cognizable offences like murder, rape or happening in the sight of the police or where there is a threat of the furtherance the crime.
Raghbir Singh Brar
Faridkot
When the police have to arrest a person, there are some procedural guidelines which must be followed, but they are usually thrown in the bin.
According to the section 35 of BNS, the police can arrest a persons with cognizable offence like murder, rape or other serious offence, but in the offences under less than 7 years of imprisonment, the police are supposed to serve a notice to the alleged accused for appeance.He would appear and then there is a questioning/investigation and final decision.
The arrest of a person should be treated as a last resort, not automatic.
In the DK Basu case, the Apex court has laid down that the police must provide the arrestee the written grounds for his arrest, if not before his arrest in urgent cases, but at least less than two hours of his production in the court of the magistrate.
Then the police are mandated to fill up an arrest memo, which is supposed to be attested/signed by two witnesses and the arrestee himself.
If the witness is not a relative, the accused has a right to inform his relative about his arrest.
The arrested person has a right to meet his legal counsel during his interrogation.
Every 48 hours, a medical examination is required under the law.
If the police fail to do so, it can be prosecuted as contempt to court.
The women can not be arrested from the sunset to the sunrise except for the presence of a woman police officer and warrant by the magistrate.
The procedural guidelines are not followed-Mahipinder Singh Sekhon, advocate district courts Faridkot, speaking to the The Punjab express.com
“The guidelines of the Apex court and sections under 35 of the BNSS are there. But they remain on paper. Usually, the police pick up a person or persons suspected in some crime. Then they may be kept in lock up for some days and allegedly tortured. If they are proved innocent, they are let go or otherwise they are nominated,” said Sekhon.
‘The police continue to keep paperwork as required, but do not the time of the arrest of anyone, it is done later on. There was also an app launched in which the photo of the accused had to be uploaded when he was arrested, but the police did not do it. If a photo needs to be uploaded later on,’ said Mahipinder Singh Sekhon.
The police allegedly detain a person for many days and later on he may be released or nominated in a case. This is also a serious question where political intervention takes place.
As the legal process takes longer time, some influential persons take the police route to settle the scores.
Usually, when there is a complaint against anybody, police calls him up to the police station or drops at his door steps allegedly to threaten him.
This vicious circle leads to the political intervention and justice system at the beginning gets manipulated and corruption stems here.