& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Detention on suspicion made illegal

HC issues 15-point directive on lawmen

STAFF CORRESPONDENT
The High Court (HC) has made illegal detention of anyone arrested on suspicion.
In a recent 15-point directive, the HC asked police officers, magistrates, jailers and sessions judges to ensure that human rights are not violated.
The Attorney General's office received the instructions Thursday for implementation.
Arrest on suspicion under Section 54 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) had been used by subsequent
governments as a tool to quell political dissidents. The directives will effectively put a cap on such harassment.
From now on, the law enforcers would have to abide by the High Court directives dealing with Sections 54, 167, 176, 202, 330 and 348 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).
The 15-point directive came on April 7, when a High Court Division Bench of justices Md. Hamidul Haque and Salma Masud Chowdhury gave a ruling on a writ petition challenging the abuses of Sections 54 and 167.
The copy of the verdict was signed
last Wednesday.
The court directed the government to amend the relevant sections of the CrPC within the next six months. It also ordered the authorities to follow a 15-point directive with immediate effect.
The government is still undecided on whether to appeal before the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court. In the absence of an appeal for a stay on the judgement, the order came into force on April SEE PAGE 11 COL 4 FROM PAGE 1
16, the date the court signed and served it.
The government can still file a leave to appeal petition before the Appellate Court within 30 days, from April 16, but that would not be an excuse for the authorities concerned not to comply with the 15-point directive.
The judgement said, "Our answer is that this court has such power under the Article 102 of the Constitution. As we have found that some of the existing provisions of the Section 54 and 167 of the code are inconsistent with the fundamental rights of the citizens, this court can not only recommend, it can even issue directives.
"In Mazdar Hossain's case, the Appellate Division had also issued directives upon the government to ensure separation of the Judiciary from the Executive and the Appellate Division modified the drafts and made those drafts part of its order."
The 15-point directives are as follows:
1. No police officer shall arrest a person under section 54 of the code for the purpose of detaining him under Section 3 of the Special Powers Act, 1974.
2. A police officer shall disclose his identity and, if demanded, shall show his identity card to the person arrested and to the persons at the time of arrest.
3. He (PO) shall record the reasons for the arrest and other particulars in a separate register till a special diary is prepared.
4. If he finds any mark of injury on the person arrested, he (PO) shall record the cause of such injury and shall take the person to the nearest hospital or government doctor for treatment and shall obtain a certificate from the attending doctor.
5. He shall furnish the reasons for arrest to the person arrested within three hours of bringing him to the police station.
6. If the person is not arrested from his residence or place of business, he (PO) shall inform the nearest relation of the person over phone, if any, or through a messenger within one hour of bringing him in the police station.
7. He (PO) shall allow the person arrested to consult a lawyer of his own choice if he so desires or to meet any of his nearest relation.
8. When such person is produced before the nearest Magistrate, the police officer shall state in his forwarding letter under section 167(1) of the code as to why the investigation could not be completed within 24 hours, why he considers that the accusation of the information against that person as well-founded. He shall also transmit copy of relevant entries in the case diary to the same Magistrate.
9. If the Magistrate is satisfied on consideration of the reasons stated in the forwarding letter as to whether the accusation or the information is well-founded and that there are materials in the case diary for detaining the person in custody, the Magistrate shall pass an order for further detention in jail. Otherwise he shall release the person forthwith.
10. If the Magistrate releases the person on the ground that the accusation or the information against the person produced before him is not well-founded and there is no material in the case diary against that person, he shall proceed under the Section 190(1)(c) of the code against that police officer who arrested the person without warrant for committing offence under The Section 220 of the
Penal Code.
11. If the Magistrate passes an order for further detention in jail, the investigating officer shall interrogate the accused, if necessary, for the purpose of investigation in a room in the jail till the room as mentioned in the judgement is constructed.
12. In the application for taking the accused in police custody for interrogation, the investigating officer shall state reasons.
13. If the Magistrate authorizes detention in police custody, he shall hear the accused or the lawyer of the accused and he shall forward the order to the Sessions Judge for approval. The accused, before he is taken in custody of the investigating officer, shall be examined by a doctor or medical board and the report shall be submitted to the Magistrate. After expiry of the custodial period the accused shall be produced before the Magistrate and if the accused makes any allegation of torture, the Magistrate shall at once send him to the same doctor or medical board for examination. If the Magistrate finds from the medical report that the accused sustained injury during the period under police custody, he shall proceed under the Section 190(1)(c) of the code against the investigating officer.
14) The police officer who arrests a person under the Section 54 or the Investigating Officer who takes a person in police custody or the jailor of the jail, as the case may be, shall at once inform the nearest Magistrate of the death of any person dies in custody, and
15) A Magistrate shall probe the death in police custody or in jail immediately after receiving information of such deaths."