The Supreme Court norms

GIVING its judgment in D.K. Basu vs. the State of Rajasthan in 1997, the Supreme Court laid down the norms a detaining/arresting authority should follow "in all cases of arrest".

Accordingly, the person carrying out the arrest should wear accurate, visible and clear identification and name tags of his or her designation. At the time of the arrest, a memo containing the time and date of arrest should be prepared. It should be attested by a family member of the person to be arrested or by a respected person from the locality, and countersigned by the arrestee. A person detained or interrogated is entitled to have a friend or a relative informed as soon as practicable about his or her arrest and detention at a particular place.

The police must notify a relative or a friend of the person arrested about the time and place of arrest or the place of custody if he or she lives outside the town. This has to be done telegraphically through the legal aid organisation in the district and the police station of the area concerned within 12 hours of the arrest.

The arrestee must be made aware of his right to have someone informed about his detention immediately after the arrest or the detention. An entry on the arrest of the person must be made in the diary at the place of detention. The entry should contain the name of the friend or the relative who has been informed about the arrest and the details about the police officials who are keeping the arrestee in custody.

Any injury on the arrested person's body, that existed at the time of the arrest, must be recorded. The inspection memo must be signed by both the arrestee and the person carrying out the arrest and a copy provided to the arrestee. The arrestee should be medically examined every 48 hours during his or her detention.

The copies of all documents, including the memo of arrest, shoud be sent to the magistrate. The arrestee may be permitted to meet his or her lawyer during interrogation. All district and State headquarters should have police control rooms and they should provide information about the arrestee and the place of his or her custody within 12 hours of the arrest. The information should be displayed on conspicuous notice boards.