INTRODUCTORY
The accused in India are afforded certain rights, the most basic of which are found in the Indian Constitution. The general theory behind these rights is that the government has enormous resources available to it for the prosecution of individuals, and individuals therefore are entitled to some protection from misuse of those powers by the government. An accused has certain rights during the course of any investigation; enquiry or trial of an offence with which he is charged and he should be protected against arbitrary or illegal arrest. Police have a wide powers conferred on them to arrest any person under Cognizable offence without going to magistrate, so Court should be vigilant to see that theses powers are not abused for lightly used for personal benefits. No arrest can be made on mere suspicion or information. Even private person cannot follow and arrest a person on the statement of another person, however impeachable it is.
Though the police has been given various powers for facilitating the making of arrests, the powers are subject to certain restraints. These restraints are primarily provided for the protection of the interests of the person to be arrested, and also of the society at large. The imposition of the restraints can be considered, to an extent, as the recognition of the rights of the arrested person. There are, however, some other provisions which have rather more expressly and directly created important rights in favour of the arrested person.
In the leading case of Kishore Singh Ravinder Dev v. State of Rajasthan, it was said that the laws of India i.e. Constitutional, Evidentiary and procedural have made elaborate provisions for safeguarding the rights of accused with the view to protect his (accused) dignity as a human being and giving him benefits of a just, fair and impartial trail. However in another leading case of Meneka Gandhi v. Union of India it was interpreted that the procedure adopted by the state must, therefore, be just, fair and reasonable.
RIGHTS OF ARRESTED PERSON
1. Right To Silence
The ‘right to silence’ is a principle of common law and it means that normally courts or tribunals of fact should not be invited or encouraged to conclude, by parties or prosecutors, that a suspect or an accused is guilty merely because he has refused to respond to questions put to him by the police or by the Court.
Right to fair trial is the basic premise of all procedural laws. The very prescription of procedure and the evolution of procedural law have to be understood in the historical context of the anxiety to substitute rule of men by rule of law. In law any statement or confession made to a police officer is not admissible. Right to silence is mainly concerned about confession. Breaking of silence by the accused can be before a magistrate but should be voluntary and without any duress or inducement. To ensure the truthfulness and reliability of the facts he stated the magistrate is required to take several precautions.
Right to silence and the right against self-incrimination have been watered down quite considerably by interpretation than by legislation. The defendant if he so desires can be a witness in his trial. His confession outside the court either to the police officer or to the magistrate is admissible. He is encouraged to betray his colleagues in crime on promise of pardon. He is expected to explain every adverse circumstance to the court at the conclusion of evidence with the court having jurisdiction to draw adverse inference while appreciating the evidence against him.
The constitution of India guarantees every person right against self incrimination under Article 20 (3) “No person accused of any offense shall be compelled to be a witness against himself”. It is well established that the Right to Silence has been granted to the accused by virtue of the pronouncement in the case of Nandini Sathpathy vs P.L.Dani, no one can forcibly extract statements from the accused, who has the right to keep silent during the course of interrogation (investigation). By the administration of these tests, forcible intrusion into one’s mind is being restored to, thereby nullifying the validity and legitimacy of the Right to Silence. In 2010 The Supreme court made narco-analysis, brain mapping and lie detector test as a violation of Article 20(3).
2. Right To Know The Grounds of Arrest
Firstly, according to Section 50(1) Cr.P.C. “every police officer or other person arresting any person without warrant shall forthwith communicate to him full particulars of the offence for which he is arrested or other grounds for such arrest.”
Secondly, when a subordinate officer is deputed by a senior police officer to arrest a person under Section 55 Cr.P.C., such subordinate officer shall, before making the arrest, notify to the person to be arrested the substance of the written order given by the senior police officer specifying the offence or other cause for which the arrest is to be made. Non- compliance with this provision will render the arrest illegal.
Thirdly, in case of arrest to be made under a warrant, Section 75 Cr.P.C. provides that “the police officer or other person executing a warrant of arrest shall notify the substance thereof to the person to be arrested, and if so required, shall show him the warrant.” If the substance of the warrant is not notified, the arrest would be unlawful.
Indian constitution has also conferred on this right the status of the fundamental right. Article 22(2) of the constitution provides that “no person who is arrested shall be detained in custody without being informed as soon as may be, of the grounds of such arrest nor shall he be denied the right to consult, and to be defended by a legal practitioner of his choice.”
The right to be informed of the grounds of arrest is a precious right of the arrested person. Timely information of the grounds of arrest serves him in many ways. It enables him to move the proper court for bail, or in appropriate circumstances for a writ of habeas corpus, or to make expeditious arrangement for his defence.
If the arrest is made by the magistrate without a warrant under Section 44, the case is covered neither by any of the section 50, 55 and 75 nor by any other provision in the code requiring the magistrate to communicate the grounds of arrest to the arrested person. The lacuna in the code, however, will not create any difficulty in practice as the magistrate would still be bound to state the grounds under Article 22(1) of the Constitution.
The rules emerging from decision such as Joginder Singh v. State of U.P. and D.K. Basu v. State of West Bengal, have been enacted in Section 50-A making it obligatory on the part of the police officer not only to inform the friend or relative of the arrested person about his arrest etc. but also to make entry in a register maintained by the police. The magistrate is also under an obligation to satisfy himself about the compliance of the police in this regard.
3. Information Regarding The Right To Be Released On Bail
Section 50(2) Cr.P.C. provides that “where a police officer arrests without warrant any person other than a person accused of a non- bailable offence, he shall inform the person arrested that he is entitled to be released in bail that he may arrange for sureties on his.” This will certainly be of help to persons who may not know about their rights to be released on bail in case of bailable offences. As a consequence, this provision may in some small measures, improve the relations of the people with the police and reduce discontent against them.
4. Right To Be Taken Before A Magistrate Without Delay
Whether the arrest is made without warrant by a police officer, or whether the arrest is made under a warrant by any person, the person making the arrest must bring the arrested person before a judicial officer without unnecessary delay. It is also provided that the arrested person should not be confined in any place other than a police station before he is taken to the magistrate. These matters have been provided in Cr.P.C. under section 56 and 76 which are as given below:
56. Person arrested to be taken before Magistrate or officer in charge of police station- A police officer making an arrest without warrant shall, without unnecessary delay and subject to the provisions herein contained as to bail, take or send the person arrested before a Magistrate having jurisdiction in the case, or before the officer in charge of a police station.
76. Person arrested to be brought before Court without delay- The police officer or other person executing a warrant of arrest shall (subject to the provisions of section 71 as to security) without unnecessary delay bring the person arrested before the Court before which he is required by law to produce such person.
Provided that such delay shall not, in any case, exceed 24 hours exclusive of the time necessary for the journey from the place of arrest to the Magistrate’s Cou
5. Right Of Not Being Detained For More Than 24 Hours Without Judicial Scrutiny
Whether the arrest is without warrant or under a warrant, the arrested person must be brought before the magistrate or court within 24 hours. Section 57 provides as follows:
Person arrested not to be detained more than twenty-four hours– No police officer shall detain in custody a person arrested without warrant for a longer period than under all the circumstances of the case is reasonable, and such period shall not, in the absence of a special order of a Magistrate under section 167, exceed twenty-four hours exclusive of the time necessary for the journey from the place of arrest to the Magistrate’s Court.
The right to be brought before a magistrate within a period of not more than 24 hours of arrest has been created with a view–
i. To prevent arrest and detention for the purpose of extracting confessions, or as a means of compelling people to give information;
ii. To prevent police stations being used as though they were prisons- a purpose for which they are unsuitable;
iii. To afford to an early recourse to a judicial officer independent of the police on all questions of bail or discharge.
In a case of Khatri(II) v. State of Bihar, the Supreme Court has strongly urged upon the state and its police authorities to ensure that this constitutional and legal requirement to produce an arrested person before a Judicial Magistrate within 24 hours of the arrest be scrupulously observed. This healthy provision enables the magistrate to keep check over the police investigation and it is necessary that the magistrates should try to enforce this requirement and where it is found disobeyed, come heavily upon the police.
If police officer fails to produce an arrested person before a magistrate within 24 hours of the arrest, he shall be held guilty of wrongful detention.
In a case of Poovan v. Sub- Inspector of Police it was said that whenever a complaint is received by a magistrate that a person is arrested within his jurisdiction but has not been produced before him within 24 hours or a complaint has made to him that a person is being detained within his jurisdiction beyond 24 hours of his arrest, he can and should call upon the police officer concerned; to state whether the allegations are true and if so; on what and under whose custody; he is being so helped. If officer denies the arrest, the magistrate can make an inquiry into the issue and pass appropriate orders.
6. Rights at Trial
i. Right To A Fair Trial-
The Constitution under Article 14 guarantees the right to equality before the law. The Code of Criminal Procedure also provides that for a trial to be fair, it must be an open court trial. This provision is designed to ensure that convictions are not obtained in secret. In some exceptional cases the trial may be held in camera. Every accused is entitled to be informed by the court before taking the evidence that he is entitled to have his case tried by another court and if the accused subsequently moves such application for transfer of his case to another court the same must be transferred. However, the accused has no right to select or determine by which other court the case is to be tried.
ii. Right To A Speedy Trial-
The Constitution provides an accused the right to a speedy trial. Although this right is not explicitly stated in the constitution, it has been interpreted by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in the judgment of Hussainara Khatoon. This judgment mandates that an investigation in trial should be held “as expeditiously as possible”. In all summons trials (cases where the maximum punishment is two years imprisonment) once the accused has been arrested, the investigation for the trial must be completed within six months or stopped on an order of the Magistrate, unless the Magistrate receives and accepts, with his reasons in writing, that there is cause to extend the investigation
7. Right To Consult A Legal Practitioner
Article 22(1) of the Constitution provides that no person who is arrested shall be denied the right to consult a legal practitioner of his choice. Further, as has been held by the Supreme Court that state is under a constitutional mandate (implicit in article 21) to provide free legal aid to an indigent accused person, and the constitutional obligation to provide free legal aid does not arise only when the trial commences but also attaches when the accused is for the first time produced before the magistrate, as also when remanded from time to time. It has been held by the Supreme Court that non- compliance with this requirement and failure to inform the accused of this right would vitiate the trial. Section 50(3) also provides that any person against whom proceedings are instituted under the code may of right be defended by a pleader of his choice. The right of an arrested person to consult his lawyer begins from the moment of his arrest. The consultation with the lawyer may be in the presence of police officer but not within his hearing.
8. Rights Of Free Legal Aid
In Khatri(II) v. State of Bihar, the Supreme Court has held that the state is under a constitutional mandate (implicit in Article 21) to provide free legal aid to an indigent accused person, an and the constitutional obligation to provide free legal aid does not arise only when the trial commences but also attaches when the accused is for the first time produced before the magistrate, as also when remanded from time to time. However this constitutional right of an indigent accused to get free legal aid may prove to be illusory unless he is promptly and duly informed about it by the court when he is produced before it. The Supreme Court has therefore cast a duty on all magistrates and courts to inform the indigent accused about his right to get free legal aid. The apex court has gone a step further in Suk Das v. Union Territory of Arunachal Pradesh, wherein it has been categorically laid down that this constitutional right cannot be denied if the accused failed to apply for it. It s clear that unless refused, failure to provide free legal aid to an indigent accused would vitiate the trial entailing setting aside of the conviction and sentence.
9. Right To Be Examined By A Medical Practitioner
Section 54 now renumbered as Section 54(1) provides:
54. Examination of arrested person by medical practitioner at the request of the arrested person
When a person who is arrested, whether on a charge or otherwise, alleges, at the time when he is produced before a Magistrate or at any time during the period of his detention in custody that the examination of his body will afford evidence which will disprove the commission by him of any offence or which will establish the commission by any other person of any offence against his body, the Magistrate shall, if requested by the arrested person so to do direct the examination of the body of such person by a registered medical practitioner unless the Magistrate considers that the request is made for the purpose of vexation or delay or for defeating the ends of justice.
10. Right Of The Accused To Produce An Evidence
The accused even has right to produce witness in his defence in case of police report or private defence. After the Examination and cross examination of all prosecution witness i.e. after the completion of the prosecution case the accused shall be called upon to enter upon his defence and any written statement put in shall be filled with the record. He may even call further for cross examination. The judge shall go on recording the evidence of prosecution witness till the prosecution closes its evidence.
The accused in order to test the veracity of the testimony of a prosecution witness has the right to cross-examine him. Section 138 of Indian Evidence Act, 1872 gives accused has a right to confront only witnesses. This right ensures that the accused has the opportunity for cross-examination of the adverse witness. Section 33 of Indian Evidence Act tells when witness is unavailable at trial, a testimonial statement of the witness maybe dispensed by issuing commission. The testimony at a formal trial is one example of prior testimonial statements which can be used as documentary evidence in a subsequent trial.
When in the course of investigation an accused or any other person desiring to make any statement is brought to a magistrate so that any confession or statement that he may be deposed to make of his free will is record. Confession statements by accused to the police are absolutely excluded under Section 25, Evidence Act.
