Police Must Electronically Inform Jurisdictional Court Of Date, Time & Place Of Out-Of-State Arrest Without Warrant: Orissa High Court

The Orissa High Court has held that whenever a person is arrested without warrant outside the State, the arresting officer must immediately inform the jurisdictional court of the date, time and place of arrest through electronic means, including e-mail. [2026 LiveLaw (Ori) 61]Issuing a slew of guidelines to ensure fairness in arrests made outside the jurisdiction of the court, Justice Gourishankar Satapathy directed that such information be reflected in the court record upon receipt so that compliance with the mandatory safeguards governing arrest and detention can subsequently be verified.The directions were issued while granting bail to a man after finding that his arrest and detention violated the constitutional mandate under Article 22(2) and Section 58 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), inasmuch as he was produced before the Magistrate beyond the 24 hours outer-limit.The Court held–“It is, therefore, mandatory for the Arresting Officer to take such arrestee immediate after the arrest, but not later than 24 hours to produce before a Magistrate exclusive the time required for the journey, but such Magistrate need not to be the jurisdictional Magistrate, however, the arrestee must be produced before the jurisdictional Magistrate within 24 hours exclusive of journey by taking authorization of the nearest Magistrate. The aforesaid compliance is mandatory in nature.”The petitioner was arrested by the Raighar Police (in the district of Nabarangpur) in connection with an FIR under Sections 370 (trafficking of person)/370(3) (trafficking of multiple persons)/376-D (gang rape)/294 (obscene acts)/323 (voluntarily causing hurt)/506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC for allegedly trafficking persons to illegally employ them in brick kilns with no reasonable wages and also for sexually assaulting the trafficked women.Upon his arrest, the petitioner moved the Court of Additional Sessions Judge, Umerkote for bail, which was rejected. Thus, he filed this bail petition under Section 483 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) before the High Court. It was mainly contended that though he was arrested at 04:00 PM on 16.03.2024, he was produced before the Magistrate only at 10:00 AM on 19.03.2024, which according to him exceeded the constitutional and statutory stipulation of production within 24 hours excluding the time of journey.The Court sought clarification from the IIC of Raighar Police Station as to the timelines and procedures adopted in arresting and producing the accused before the Magistrate. The IIC, by filing affidavit, informed the Court that the petitioner was apprehended at 04:00 PM on 16.03.2024 from Chittoor district in the State of Andhra Pradesh. The police then interrogated the petitioner, who confessed his guilt. However, while carrying out the arrests, the relatives and associates started opposing the police team. Upon getting no cooperation from the local police, the team left the spot with the apprehended petitioner for safety and security reasons.As per the further deposition of the police, the investigating officer started his return journey from Andhra Pradesh at 09:00 PM on 16.03.2024 and reached at Raighar Police Station on 18.03.2024 at 07:00 AM. The IIC further conveyed that he formally arrested the petitioner only at 02:00 PM on 18.03.2024 and produced him before the Magistrate at 10:00 AM on 19.03.2024.From the aforesaid instruction, it became apparent that though the petitioner was arrested at 04:00 PM on 16.03.2024 from Andhra Pradesh, he was not produced before the nearest Magistrate as per Section 58, BNSS.Notwithstanding, the time of formal arrest, i.e. 02:00 PM on 18.03.2024, shown by the police, the Court held that for the purpose of Section 58, BNSS, which says that a person arrested without warrant shall not be detained for more than 24 hours without being produced before the nearest Magistrate, the arrest commences from the very moment the personal liberty of the accused is curtailed and he is confined to the custody of police. Therefore, the Court held that the 24 hours period started from the initial apprehension at 04:00 PM on 16.03.2024.Accordingly, the period of detention of the petitioner from 04:00 PM on 16.03.2024 to 10:00 on 19.03.2024, excluding the time taken for journey, was calculated to be 32 hours, which is clearly beyond the permissible limit of 24 hours. The Court expressed shock as to why the petitioner was not taken before the nearest Magistrate and was kept in continued custody for more than 24 hours only for producing him before the jurisdictional Magistrate. Hence, it observed–“Besides, the sentence “every person who is arrested and detained in custody shall be produced before the nearest Magistrate within 24 hours” as contemplated under Article 22(2) of the Constitution of India is not only mandatory in nature, but also it does not distinguish arrest with or without warrant and the very use of word “nearest Magistrate” makes it...

Police Must Electronically Inform Jurisdictional Court Of Date, Time & Place Of Out-Of-State Arrest Without Warrant: Orissa High Court

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Police Must Electronically Inform Jurisdictional Court Of Date, Time & Place Of Out-Of-State Arrest Without Warrant: Orissa High Court

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