REQUIREMENTS TO BE FOLLOWED WHILE MAKING AN ARREST Right to personal liberty is so fundamental that in the constitution of India and other international instruments regarding human rights it is clubbed with the right to life. Without liberty a human life has no meaning. It is living dead. Virtually all other human rights or fundamental rights flow from right to life and personal liberty. Right to personal liberty is synonymous with the right to life.
Arrest implies the restriction or abridgement of this precious right to personal liberty. But Indian constitution and other international instruments empowered the state to arrest persons strictly in cases where the law of the land provides for it, provided also that it shall be made in accordance with the procedure established by law. But there is a yawning gap in India in between the law and its practical application by the law-enforcement agencies.So,uncountable cases of abusing the process of law regarding arrest by the law- enforcement agencies keep happening. To bridge this gape the Supreme Court of India has formulated the following requirements for the police and other law-enforcement agencies to follow strictly while making an arrest. Here are the requirements: 1. The police personnel carrying out the arrest and handling the interrogation of the arrestee should bear accurate, visible and clear identification and name tags with their designations. The particulars of all such police personnel who handle interrogation of the arrestee must be recorded in a register. 2. That the police officer carrying out the arrest of the arrestee shall prepare a memo of arrest at the time of arrest and such memo shall be attested by at least one witness who may be either a member of the family of the arrestee or a respectable person of the locality from where the arrest is made. It shall also be countersigned by the arrestee and shall contain the time and date of arrest. 3. A person who has been arrested or detained and is being held in custody in police station or interrogation centre or other lock-up shall be entitled to have one friend or relative or other person known to him or having interest in his welfare being informed as soon as practicable, that he has been arrested and is being detained at the particular place unless the attesting witness of the memo of the arrest is himself such a friend or a relative of the arrestee. 4. The time, place of arrest and venue of custody of an arrestee must be notified by the police where the next friend or relative of the arrestee lives outside the district or town through the legal aid organisation of the district and the police station of the area concerned telegraphically within a period of 8 to 12 hours after the arrest. 5. the person arrested must be made aware of his right to have someone informed of his arrest or detention as soon as he is put under arrest or detained. 6. An entry must be made in the diary at the place of detention regarding the arrest of the person which shall also disclose the name of the next friend of the person who has been informed of the arrest and the names and particulars of the police officials in whose custody the arrestee is. 7. The arrestee should, where he so requests, be also examined at the time of the arrest and major or minor injuries, if any, present on his or her body, must be recorded at the time. The "Inspection Memo" must be signed both by the arrestee and the police officer effecting the arrest and its copy provided to the arrestee. 8. The arrestee should be subjected to medical examination by trained doctor every 48 hours during his detention in custody by a doctor on the panel of approved doctors appointed by Director, Health Services Of the concerned state or Union Territory. Director, Health Services should prepare such a panel for all Tehsils and Districts as well. 9. Copies of all the documents including the memo of arrest, referred to above shall be sent to the Illaqa Magistrate for his record. 10. The arrestee may be permitted to meet his lawyer during interrogation, though not throughout the interrogation. 11. A police control room should be provided at all districts and state headquarters where information regarding the arrest and the place of custody of the arrestee shall be communicated by the officer causing the arrest and at the police control room it should be displayed on a conspicuous notice board. These requirements flow from Article 21 and 22(1) of the Constitution and need to be strictly followed. These would apply with equal force to her governmental agencies also like Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Directorate of Enforcement, Coastal Guard, Central Reserve Police Force, State Armed Police, Border Security Force, Central Industrial Security Force, and Intelligence Agencies like the Intelligence Bureau, Research and Analysis Wing, Central Bureau of Investigation, Central Intelligence Department, Traffic Police, Mounted Police etc. Failure to comply with them shall apart from rendering the concerned official liable for departmental action, also render him liable to be punished for contempt of Court and the proceedings for contempt of Court may be instituted in any High Court of the country having territorial jurisdiction over the matter." Barak Human Rights Protection Committee wants that these requirements to be followed in the valley in letter and spirit. There are many complaints that police and other law-enforcement agencies don't follow these mandatory requirements. We need to document as many cases of such violation of rights as happen for creating a movement for the protection of the rights of arrestees. And regarding individual cases we also work to get the victim his due compensation by filing complaints and pursuing it on behalf of the victim in appropriate foru. Therefore, every member of this group is requested to inform us in detail about the cases, which he has come to know of, of the failure on the part of police to observe these requirements. The report can be send at [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Also, you can contact the Secretary General on +919854708559 Special Representative on +919854441275 Re: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/assamonline/message/3834
