Arrests Are Not Mandatory Under Section 170 Of The CrPC
Linus tackles things head-on. He takes sides in his analysis and it fits excellently with our editorial policy. No 'maybe's' and 'allegedly' for him, only things in black and white.
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By Linus Garg
First publised on 2021-08-21 07:25:36
About the Author
Linus tackles things head-on. He takes sides in his analysis and it fits excellently with our editorial policy. No 'maybe's' and 'allegedly' for him, only things in black and white.
View all posts by this Author
The Supreme Court has once again castigated the practice of the police making indiscriminate arrests without there actually being any pressing need for the action. It also came down heavily on criminal court judges who insisted that the accused be arrested and produced before them at the time of filing the chargesheet. Saying that arresting a person harms his or her reputation and lowers his self esteem, the court was of the opinion that arrests should only be made when there is no option left. It said that "merely because an arrest can be made because it is lawful does not mandate that the arrest must be made. A distinction must be made between the existence of the power to arrest and the justification for exercise of it".
The court was of the opinion that if the accused was cooperating with the investigation, attending summons, not threatening witnesses, not tampering with evidence and was not likely to abscond, the police should ideally not arrest him or her at a preliminary stage. The court reminded the police that it had issued comprehensive guidelines in 1994 on the necessity of arrests but it was not being followed. It lamented that even lower courts erroneously interpreted section 170 of the CrPC and demanded the arrest of the accused at the time of filing a chargesheet in a non-bailable and cognizable offence.
The court cited several high court cases to say that criminal courts cannot refuse to accept a chargesheet merely on the grounds that the accused has not been arrested and produced before the court. It said that it agreed with this view. The court opined that "the word custody appearing in Section 170 of the CrPC does not contemplate either police or judicial custody but it merely connotes the presentation of the accused by the investigating officer before the court while filing the chargesheet".
With the Supreme Court clearing the matter on Section 170 of the CrPC, criminal courts must now accept chargesheets merely on the production of the accused and must not issue warrants of arrest or demand arrest at that stage. The police need not arrest the accused and might just produce them before the court if he is cooperating in the investigation.
