Key Facts

The Supreme Court delivered a major constitutional ruling clarifying Article 22(2) and procedural criminal law, holding that the mandatory 24-hour statutory clock for producing a detained person before the nearest judicial magistrate commences the moment physical restraint or custody is exercised, and not at the subsequent hour of recording a formal arrest memo. The Bench cautioned police and central investigative agencies against the practice of unrecorded 'informal interrogation' or prolonged detention before documenting an arrest. The court emphasized that Article 21 and Article 22 of the Constitution admit no concept of 'temporary interruption of personal liberty', and any detention exceeding 24 hours without a judicial remand order renders the custody illegal.

GK Context

Article 22(2) of the Indian Constitution, replicated in Section 57 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and Section 58 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), mandates that no person arrested shall be detained in custody without being produced before a magistrate within twenty-four hours of arrest, excluding the time necessary for the journey from the place of arrest to the magistrate's court. In landmark judgments such as D.K. Basu v. State of West Bengal (1997) and Arnesh Kumar (2014), the Supreme Court laid down procedural safeguards, including inspection memos, intimation to relatives, and mandatory judicial oversight, to prevent custodial violence and unlawful detention.