Gauhati HC Orders Officials to Follow Legal Procedures in Arrests

GUWAHATI: The Gauhati High Court has instructed Assam's Chief Secretary and Director General of Police (DGP) to make sure that law enforcement agencies adhere strictly to legal procedures while arresting someone without a warrant.

The court stressed that in terms of Section 47 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023, and special laws such as Section 52(1) of the NDPS Act, 1985, police are required to serve a proper notice during the arrest.

In its judgment, the court opined that the notice should be comprehensive and include all the details of the offense, the nature of the crime, and the reason for the arrest. The court also said that non-compliance with these constitutional necessities would nullify the arrest as it would contravene basic rights.

For ensuring proper implementation and awareness, a copy of the court order has been forwarded to the Chief Secretary, DGP, and Director of Judicial Academy, Assam. The judgment seeks to reiterate the significance of following legal provisions in law enforcement measures.

The case in point was one which brought the matter to public attention when Sakib Choudhury, represented by attorneys Bijon Kumar Mahajan and Arshad Choudhury, had petitioned for bail. Choudhury had been arrested from a Mangaldai hotel in January on charges of running several false accounts in the names of several firms, companies, and NGOs.

He was indicted, along with four others, for bank fraud, purportedly moving funds from target accounts to their receiver accounts. The investigators alleged that Choudhury had hired hackers to clone target accounts and enable the fraudulent transactions.

The defense attorneys asserted that the police had not notified Choudhury of the reasons for his arrest, infringing his constitutional rights under Article 22(1) of the Indian Constitution and his statutory rights under Section 47 of the BNSS, 2023. They averred that such procedural default rendered the arrest illegal.

But Additional Public Prosecutor RR Kaushik opposed the bail, stating that the case diary held enough incriminating material against Choudhury. The high court, however, released him on bail, fixing the bond at Rs 50,000 with two sureties of the same amount, to be filed before the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Darrang.

ALSO READ:

ALSO WATCH: