The Supreme Court has held that the 24-hour constitutional deadline for producing an arrested person before a Magistrate runs from the moment of actual detention—when the person’s liberty is curtailed—and not from the time police formally record the arrest.
The ruling came in appeals by four persons challenging a Tripura High Court decision denying them bail in a case registered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.
A Bench of Justices Ujjal Bhuyan and Atul S. Chandurkar held that the 24-hour period under Article 22(2) of the Constitution must be calculated from the date and time a person is actually detained, not from when the investigating agency formally records the arrest. The Court further held that detention beyond this period without a Magistrate’s authority is impermissible.
Rejecting any distinction between detention and formal arrest for calculating the constitutional deadline, the Bhuyan-led Bench said treating the 24-hour period as commencing only after completion of search and seizure, and from the time of formal arrest, was not only unsustainable in law but entirely unconstitutional.
The Court further clarified that if a person’s detention continues beyond 24 hours without production before a Magistrate, the person must be released forthwith.
