A is arrested by a police officer B in the execution of a warrant issued against him by a court… Does the non-production of A before the court within 24 hours make the custody of A illegal? Give reasons.

Question: A is arrested by a police officer B in the execution of a warrant issued against him by a court. The accused A could not be produced before the court after such arrest within 24 hours of mandatory provision prescribed by Section 76, as the journey from the place of arrest to the court cannot be completed earlier than 30 hours.

Does the non-production of A before the court within 24 hours make the custody of A illegal? Give reasons.

Find the answer to the mains question only on Legal Bites. [A is arrested by a police officer B in the execution of a warrant issued against him by a court… Does the non-production of A before the court within 24 hours make the custody of A illegal? Give reasons.]

Answer

Chapter ­VI of Code of Criminal Procedure deals with the process to compel appearance. The warrant may be issued to Police Officer or any other person to execute the same. The term warrant is not defined in the Code of Criminal Procedure.

As per the Concise Oxford dictionary, “Warrant is an official authorization enabling the police or some other body to make an arrest, search premises, etc”. Thus, it is an order or writ of the Court directing and empowering a particular person/authority to execute the directions in the warrant.

Section 76 provides the Police Officer executing the warrant shall produce the arrested person immediately not exceeding 24 hours before the Magistrate. Section 76 states that 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 twenty-four hours exclusive of the time necessary for the journey from the place of arrest to the Magistrate’s Court.

So, in the present case, it can be said that non-production of A before the Magistrate is not illegal because of the exception provided in section 76 of CrPC which excludes the time necessary for the journey from the place of arrest to the Magistrate’s Court. Hence, in view of this provision, the non-production of A before the court cannot be termed as illegal.

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