Judicial rebuke: Arrests without SC guidelines unacceptable, says Allahabad HC
Prayagraj, September 15: The Allahabad High Court has taken a tough stand on the arrest of an accused in a crime punishable with less than seven years’ imprisonment without following the Supreme Court’s guidelines in the Arnesh Kumar case.
The court has initiated criminal contempt proceedings and directed four police officers to appear on Wednesday, September 16.
This order was given by a division bench of Justice SD Singh and Justice Sandeep Jain on a petition filed by Ankit Singh.
The case relates to the arrest of Ankit Singh Parihar, son of Jai Singh Parihar, a resident of village Pahur in the Kalyanpur police station area of Fatehpur district. Petitioner advocate Amit Singh Parihar argued that the police arrested him without following the guidelines set by the Supreme Court in the Arnesh Kumar case.
The High Court had issued notices, initiating criminal contempt proceedings against the concerned police officers. It is alleged that the officers failed to appear before the court despite the notices. The court ordered Fatehpur DSP Sushil Kumar Dubey, SHO of Kalyanpur Police Station Rama Shankar Saroj, SI Chandrapal, and outpost in-charge Chaudgara to appear in court in person.
The Supreme Court has stated that arrests for crimes punishable by a maximum of seven years cannot be made automatically or mechanically. Before making an arrest, the police must consider the conditions prescribed by law and the necessity of the arrest.
The court also clarified that arrests cannot be made simply because the police have the power to do so. The necessity and justification of an arrest must be determined according to the standards set forth in the law. In the current case, there are allegations of violation of these guidelines, leading the High Court to initiate criminal contempt proceedings.
