Rules for inter-state arrest

Delhi BJP spokesperson Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga was arrested recently from his residence in Delhi in connection with ‘inflammatory speeches’ case registered against him in Mohali.

Meaning of inter-state arrest –

• Police is a State subject, and thus the jurisdiction of a state police is limited to the state.
• Broadly, the intent of the law has been that a criminal in a particular state must be arrested by the police of that state.
• However, in certain circumstances the law does allow the police of one state to arrest an accused in another state.
• This may be done by the execution of a warrant issued by a competent court, or even without a warrant — in which case the concerned state police must inform the local police about the arrest.
• State police forces across the country regularly make arrests in other states. In the normal course, this is done with the assistance of the local police. In many cases, however, the local police are merely informed before or after the arrest.

What is the procedure for such arrest?

With Warrant –

• Section 79 of the CrPC deals with inter-state arrests on the basis of warrants issued by competent courts. This section lays down detailed procedures for such arrests.
• Only Local Police has authority to arrest the accused and produce him in front of magistrate.
• Only after the issuance of transit warrant by Magistrate, the accused is given into the custody of police from another state.

Without warrant –

• The powers of the police to arrest an accused in another state have not been defined clearly as far as arresting without a warrant is concerned.
• Section 48 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) gives the police such powers, but the procedure is not defined.
• Section 48 merely says, “A police officer may, for the purpose of arresting without warrant any person whom he is authorised to arrest, pursue such person into any place in India.”
• It has been debated whether the word “pursue” in this section means entering another state in a chase, or is applicable to an accused who is staying in another state and is not cooperating with investigators.
• Police, however, have an obligation to present an arrested person before a magistrate within 24 hours.
• Article 22(2) of the Constitution of India says: “Every person who is arrested and detained in custody shall be produced before the nearest magistrate within a period of twenty-four hours of such arrest excluding the time necessary for the journey from the place of arrest to the court of the magistrate, and no such person shall be detained in custody beyond the said period without the authority of a magistrate”.