Observing that the police did not comply with Section 41 B of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) in the arrest of B. Maddileti and N. Krishna, the Telangana High Court on Thursday directed them to file a detailed counter.
A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan and Justice A. Abhishek Reddy passed the direction after hearing arguments in a Habeas Corpus petition filed by the families of the ‘illegally detained’.
On perusing the remand docket order, the CJ sought to know from the government counsel if CrPC Section 41 B was followed in the duo’s arrest. The Section mandates that when a person is arrested, police should inform his or her family members about it.
If no family member is available, a respectable person of the locality should be informed and his or her signatures should be taken on the memorandum of arrest. The petitioner’s lawyer, V. Raghunath, told the Bench that police had blatantly violated the Section and the absence of details on the remand docket order amply proved that.
Assistant Government Pleader Santosh told the Bench that the procedure of law was duly followed in the case. However, he could not present any evidence to convince the court that either a family of the arrested or a respectable citizen of the locality was informed.
The CJ said the arrest of Mr. Krishna and Mr. Maddileti becomes illegal if the mandatory Section was not adhered to it. The Bench observed that it was unfortunate that even magistrates were passing orders without verifying if the mandatory sections of law were being followed while arresting somebody.
It said that judicial officers must ensure that police included all details in the memorandum of the arrest. Citing some verdicts of the Supreme Court, the AGP tried to convince the bench that police had followed procedures in the case. The court directed the petitioner’s counsel to furnish the apex court judgements which say the police have to comply with section 41 B of CrPC.
The matter was posted to Monday for next hearing.
