Supreme Court's Big Remark On 'Arrest', 'Detention' And 24-Hour Deadline

The verdict that the only period that can be excluded while computing the 24-hour deadline is the time reasonably required to travel from the place of arrest to the magistrate's court.

05 Nov 2026, 06:58 · NDTV

Show
Quick Read
Summary is AI-generated, newsroom-reviewed

The Supreme Court ruled the 24-hour deadline starts from detention, not formal arrest
Pre-arrest detention time cannot be excluded while calculating the 24-hour limit
Only travel time from arrest location to magistrate court can be excluded

How will this verdict change daily police investigation procedures?
New Delhi:

The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that the 24-hour constitutional deadline for producing an arrested person before a magistrate begins from the moment he is detained, and not from the time the police formally makes the arrest.

Holding that there can be no artificial distinction between 'arrest' and 'detention' for the purpose of Article 22(2) of the Constitution, a bench of Justices Ujjal Bhuyan and Atul S Chandurkar said any interpretation allowing the police to exclude the period of pre-arrest detention would be contrary to the constitutional mandate.

"The view that 24 hours begin only from the formal arrest is contrary to the constitutional mandate of Article 22(2) and Section 56 of the BNSS," the bench observed.

The verdict that the only period that can be excluded while computing the 24-hour deadline is the time reasonably required to travel from the place of arrest to the magistrate's court.

The time spent on inquiry, investigation, search or seizure before formal arrest cannot be excluded, it added.

Article 22(2) provides that every person, who is arrested and detained in custody must be produced before the nearest magistrate within 24 hours of arrest, excluding the time necessary for the journey from the place of arrest to the court.

The top court disapproved of the views taken by the Orissa High Court in the Aryaman Pattanaik case, the Madras High Court in the Kannan case and the Kerala High Court in the Arun K Thomas case, which had permitted the period of detention before formal arrest to be excluded while calculating the 24-hour deadline.

The bench said that no period can be excluded while computing the deadline, except the time necessary for the journey from the place of arrest to the magistrate's court.

A person detained beyond the permissible 24-hour period without being produced before a magistrate must be released forthwith, it said.

The detaining authority must ensure that detention does not exceed a reasonable period, even within the constitutional 24-hour limit, it added.

The judicial magistrates must record the actual date and time of detention and independently examine compliance with the constitutional deadline, the verdict said.

The magistrates must also assess whether the duration of detention is reasonable in the circumstances and may decline remand if it is excessive, the bench said.

The detailed judgment is awaited.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Got a follow‑up question on this article? Go on

How may i help you today

Show full article

Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world