Guidelines issued:
The Court issued a list of 11 guidelines in addition to the Constitutional and Statutory Safeguards to be followed in all cases of arrest and detention.
The guidelines are as follows: –
1. Police personnel who make the arrest and handle the interrogation of the arrested person must wear precise, visible and clear identifications and identification labels with their designations. Details of all personnel handling the interrogations of the arrested person must be recorded in a register.
2. The police officer making the arrest of the detainee will prepare a memorandum of arrest at the time of the arrest and said memo will be witnessed by at least one witness who may be a member of the family of the arrested person or a respectable person from the locality from where the arrest is made. It must also be signed by the detainee and must contain the time and date of the arrest.
3. A person who has been arrested or detained and is detained at a police station or interrogation centre or other confinement, shall have the right to have a friend or relative or other person known to him or who has an interest in his well-being will be informed, as soon as possible, that he/they has/ have been arrested and is /are being detained in a particular place unless the witness crediting the arrest memorandum is himself a friend or relative of those arrested.
4. Police must notify a detainee’s time, place of detention, and place of custody where he is being kept to the detainee’s next friend or relative living outside the district or city through the District’s Legal Aid Organization and the station. Police of the affected area should be telegraphically informed within the period of 8 to 12 hours after the arrest.
5. The person arrested must be made aware of his right to have someone informed of his arrest or detention as soon as he is put under arrest or is detained.
6. An entry must be made in the Case Diary at the place of detention regarding the arrest of the person which shall also disclose the name of the next friend of the person who has been informed of the arrest and the names and particulars of the police official in whose custody the arrestee is.
7. Upon request, the Arrestee must also be examined at the time of his arrest and major and minor injuries, if present on his body, must be recorded at that time. The “Inspection Memo” must be signed by both the detainee and the arresting police officer and a copy must be provided to the detainee.
8. The detainee must undergo a medical examination by a trained physician every 48 hours while in custody by a physician on the panel of approved physicians appointed by the Director of Health Services of the State or Union Territory concerned.
9. Copies of all documents, including the arrest memo, must be sent to the Magistrate for registration.
10.The Arrestee may be allowed to meet with his attorney during the interrogation, although not throughout the interrogation.
11.A Police Control Room must be provided at all central district and state offices, where the arresting officer must communicate information about the arrest and the place of custody of the arrested, within 12 hours after the arrest and in the Police Control Room Board, must be displayed on a visible notice board.