oppn parties Supreme Court Says Indiscriminate Arrests Show India To Be A Police State

News Snippets

  • For the first time ever, Mukesh Ambani buys a 29% stake in Gautam Adani's Mahan Energen, a subsidiary of Adani Power to source 500MW of electricity from the company's power plant in MP
  • Stocks continue to rise on Thursday - Sensex gains 639 points to 73635 and Nifty 203 points to 22326
  • Golf - Indian Open: 3 Indians at tied 14th as Joost Luiten takes the lead with a wonderful 7-under 65
  • IPL: RR beat DC by 12 runs as Riyan Parag (84 off just 45 balls) shines
  • SP drops two candidates owing allegiance to Azam Khan from Rampur and Moradabad
  • In Assam, a controversy erupted after a picture of UPPL leader Benjamin Basumatary, lying on a stack of Rs 500 notes circulated on social media. UPPL is an ally of the BJP
  • AAP's Jalandhar-West MP Sushil Kumar Rinku joins the BJP. He was the only AAP Lok Sabha MP
  • Supreme Court dismisses Centre's plea to review its 2023 verdict in the PMLA case
  • Close save for passengers as they remain unhurt after the wings of two planes graze at Kolkata airport. Pilots derostered and inquiry ordered by DGCA
  • Bengal BJP leader Dilip Ghosh gets notice from the EC as well as the BJP for making ugly remarks about Mamata Banerjee's parentage
  • Sadanand Vasanth Date, who faught terrorists in the 26/11 attack and was awarded the Preisent's Police medal, has been appointed the head of the NIA
  • Centre will borrow Rs 7.5L cr in the first six months of FY25, nearly 50% of the target for the full year
  • 25 stocks, including SBI, will see same day trade settlements from today in the world's fastest settlement mode in both BSE and NSE
  • Stocks recover smartly on Wednesday: Sensex rises 526 points to 72996 and Nifty 118 points to 22123
  • Tennis: Rohan Bopanna-Matthew Ebden reached the semifinals of the Miami Open
Delhi Lt Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena says government cannot be run from jail, hints at President's Rule in the capital ////// In a dangerous incident, the wings of two planes grazed while taxiing on the runway at Kolkata airport, all passengers were safe but DGCA ordered an inquiry and the pilots were derostered
oppn parties
Supreme Court Says Indiscriminate Arrests Show India To Be A Police State

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2022-07-12 05:45:10

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.

The Supreme Court came down heavily on the habit of investigating agencies to make indiscriminate arrests. It said that this shows a colonial mindset and also gives the impression that India is a police state. A bench of Justices MM Sundresh and Sanjay Kishan Kaul asked the government to enact a law to restrain investigating agencies from arresting accused unnecessarily.

The rule is that if the charge against the accused does not warrant a punishment of more than seven years in jail, he or she should not ordinarily be arrested. The Supreme Court has directed investigating agencies in this regard many times, most specifically in Arnesh Kumar vs State of Bihar. Then the unwritten rule is that if an accused is cooperating with the investigation, is not likely to flee or is not likely to threaten witnesses or tamper with evidence, he or she should not be arrested as a matter of routine.

But the ground reality is completely different. Investigating agencies blatantly ignore Supreme Court directives and whenever a criminal case comes up, their first action is to arrest the accused, regardless of the fact whether the charge merits a punishment of over seven years in jail. The court also observed that the conviction rate is very low and Indian jails are full of undertrials who are spending more time in jail due to delays in justice delivery than the maximum punishment for their alleged crime would have warranted. The courts are also guilty of allowing this by most of the times not granting bail to the accused, ignoring the maxim 'bail, not jail'. The inconsistency in court orders regarding bail has made investigating agencies arrest-happy as they seek custodial interrogation which is unnecessary if the accused is cooperating. If bail is expressly granted in cases where the Supreme Court has said arrests should not ordinarily be made, the investigating agencies will get the point and stop making unnecessary arrests.

Although it will help if a comprehensive law is enacted (as suggested by the apex court) to prevent unnecessary arrests and lay down rules for granting bail, the courts can rectify the situation by being consistent in granting bail and not allowing the pleas of investigating agencies for custodial interrogation if the rules the Supreme Court has repeatedly set are satisfied. All accused need protection from arrest if they cooperate with the investigation, are not likely to abscond, threaten witnesses or tamper with evidence. Investigating agencies must not be allowed to use their power to arrest as a tool of harassment.