In making any arrests, the Police Officer, or any other person making the arrest, can actually touch or confine the body of the person who is to be arrested, unless he submits to his custody.
If the offender forcibly resists an Endeavour to arrest him, or attempts to evade the arrest, the Police Officer or other person can use all necessary means to effect the arrest. However, this does not give a right to any person to cause the death of a person who is not accused of an offence punishable with death or life imprisonment. (S. 46)
Under the 2005 Amendment, it is now provided that save in exceptional circumstances; no woman can be arrested after sunset or before sunrise. Even where exceptional circumstances exist, the Woman Police Officer must make a report in writing and obtain the prior permission of the First Class Judicial Magistrate having jurisdiction where the offence is committed or where the arrest is to be made.
image source: investigatorway.com
ADVERTISEMENTS:
S. 47 empowers the Police Officer to enter and search the place entered by the offender. If ingress to such a place cannot be freely obtained, the Police Officer can also break open any door or window of such house for the purpose of entering the same. If any apartment is in the actual occupancy of a pardanashin lady (i.e. a female who, according to custom, does not appear in public), the Police Officer must, before entering the apartment, give notice to the lady to withdraw there from, and only thereafter, he can break open the apartment and enter it.
For the purpose of arresting an offender without warrant, a Police Officer can pursue such a person in any place in India. (S. 48)
However, the person arrested is not to be subjected to any more restraint than is necessary for preventing his escape. (S. 49). In other words, unnecessary restraint and physical inconvenience, .like tying of hands and feet, is not to be resorted to, unless it is absolutely necessary to do so.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
As soon as such a person is arrested, the Police Officer or other person arresting him should immediately communicate to him the full particulars of the offence for which he is arrested or other grounds for the arrest. In the case of a person who has been arrested without a warrant, and who is not accused of a non-bailable offence, the Police Officer must also inform such person that he is entitled to be released on bail, and that he may therefore arrange for his sureties. (S. 50)
Under S. 50-A (inserted by the 2005 Amendment), when a person is arrested, the police officer or other person making the arrest must forthwith give the information regarding the arrest and the place where the arrested is being held to any of his friends, relatives or such other persons as may be nominated by the arrested person. An entry has also to be made recording as to who has been informed, in the book kept at the police station in the prescribed format.
A duty is also cast on the Magistrate before whom such a person has been produced to satisfy himself that the requirements of S. 50-A have been complied with.
After making the arrest, the Police Officer may search such person, and place in safe custody all articles (except necessary clothes) found on his body, and give him a receipt for all such articles in the following two cases, namely:
ADVERTISEMENTS:
(a) When a person is arrested by a Police Officer under a warrant which does not provide for bail, or under a bailable warrant in cases where the person arrested cannot furnish bail; and
(b) When a person is arrested without a warrant, and cannot be legally given bail, or is unable to furnish bail.
If such search has to be made of a female, it should be made only by another female with strict regard to decency. (S. 51)
If the person arrested has with him any offensive weapons, the Officer or any other person making the arrest may take away such weapons and deliver them to the Court or to any Officer before whom the arrested person is produced. (S. 52)
If the person arrested is faced with a charge of committing an offence of such a nature that there is reasonable ground for believing that an examination of his person will afford evidence as to the commission of the offence, a registered medical practitioner may, at the request of the Police Officer (not below the rank of a Sub-Inspector), make a medical examination of such a person, and for this purpose, use such force on him as may be necessary. However, if the person to be examined is a female, the examination can be made only by or under the supervision of a female registered medical practitioner. (S. 53)
It is now clarified (by the 2005 Amendment) that “examination” includes examination of blood, blood-stains, semen, swabs (in the case of sexual offences), sputum, sweat, hair samples and finger-nail clippings by the use of modern and scientific techniques, including DNA profiling.
Under a new provision introduced by the 2005 Amendment, when a person is arrested on a charge of rape or an attempt to commit rape, a registered medical practitioner, acting at the request of a police officer not below the rank of a sub-inspector, can make an examination of the accused person, and for such purpose, use such force as is reasonably necessary. (S. 53-A)
After the medical examination, the registered medical practitioner must, without delay, prepare a report of the examination, containing the following particulars:
(i) The name and address of the accused and of the person by whom he was brought;
(ii) The age of the accused;
(iii) The marks of injury, if any, on the person of the accused;
(iv) The description of the material taken from the person of the accused for DNA profiling; and
(v) Other material particulars in reasonable detail.
Similarly, if so requested by the arrested person himself, a Magistrate can order a medical examination of the arrested person for the purpose of disproving that he has committed any offence, unless the Magistrate feels that such a request is fictitious, or is made for the purpose of delaying or defeating the ends of justice. A copy of the report of such an examination is also to be furnished to the arrested person or to a person nominated by him. (S. 54)
S. 54-A (inserted by the 2005 Amendment) then provides that if the identification of the accused person by any other person or persons is considered necessary for the purpose of investigation of the offence, the court may direct the arrested person to subject himself to identification by any person or persons in such manner as the court deems fit.
If a Police Officer makes an arrest without a warrant, he must, without any unnecessary delay, take or send the person arrested to a Magistrate having jurisdiction, or to an Officer-in-charge of a Police Station. Further, no Police Officer can detain in custody a person who has been arrested without a warrant for an unreasonably long period, and in the absence of a Magistrate’s order, this period cannot exceed 24 hours, exclusive of the time necessary to travel from the place of arrest to the Magistrate’s Court. (Ss. 56 & 57)
The Supreme Court has emphasized that the requirement to produce the arrested person before a judicial Magistrate within 24 hours of his arrest must be scrupulously observed. (Khatri v. State of Bihar, (1981) 1 S.C.C. 627)
If a person has been arrested by a Police Officer, he cannot be discharged, except on his own bond, or his own bail, or under a special order of the Magistrate. (S. 59)
If a person who is in lawful custody escapes or is rescued, the person from whose custody he escapes or is rescued, can immediately pursue and arrest him in any place in India. (S. 60)