GUWAHATI, March 13: The Gauhati High Court has directed Assam’s Chief Secretary and Director General of Police (DGP) to ensure that law enforcement agencies strictly adhere to legal protocols when making arrests without a warrant. The court emphasized that under Section 47 of the BNSS, 2023, and special laws such as Section 52(1) of the NDPS Act, 1985, police and other enforcement agencies must issue a proper notice at the time of arrest.
The notice, according to the court’s order, should include full details of the offence, the nature of the crime, and the facts justifying the arrest. The high court warned that failure to comply with these legal requirements would render the arrest invalid, as it would violate constitutional mandates.
A copy of the order has been sent to the Chief Secretary, DGP, and the Director of the Judicial Academy, Assam, to raise awareness about the necessary legal procedures for making arrests.
This ruling came during the hearing of a bail petition filed by Sakib Choudhury, who was represented by advocates Bijon Kumar Mahajan and Arshad Choudhury. Choudhury was arrested in January from a hotel in Mangaldai and is accused of operating multiple bank accounts under various firms, companies, and NGOs. He, along with four others, is alleged to have committed bank fraud by transferring money from targeted accounts to their own receiver accounts using cloned accounts facilitated by hackers.
Choudhury’s defense lawyers argued that it was the constitutional duty of the police to inform the accused of the grounds for his arrest, including the full particulars of the offence. They claimed that Choudhury was never informed about the reasons for his arrest, thus violating his constitutional rights under Article 22(1) of the Constitution of India, as well as his statutory rights under Section 47 of the BNSS, 2023.
The Additional Public Prosecutor, RR Kaushik, opposed the bail, arguing that there was sufficient incriminating evidence against Choudhury in the case diary. However, the high court granted bail to Sakib Choudhury on the condition that he furnishes a bail bond of Rs 50,000 with two sureties of equal amount to the satisfaction of the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Darrang.
