HC seeks police's response on guidelines for arrest

The absence of guidelines relating to arrest and summoning of any person to a police station today came under the scanner of the Delhi High Court which sought to know from the cops what the reality was.
A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar directed that a Delhi Police officer, not below the rank of the Additional Commissioner, should file a status report on a petition alleging harassment and issuing threats of arrest by the police.
"We need to direct something. It is the biggest difficulty," the court said while also asking the high court Registrar General to look into the issue. It put up the matter for further hearing on November 6.

The petition, moved through advocates Nikhil Borwankar, has sought a direction to the police to refrain from arbitrarily summoning any person to the police station over telephone unless exigent circumstances exist, which should be recorded by the officer in writing.
It also sought a direction to the agency to frame rules and time-frame regarding an inquiry into allegations against an investigating officer in an extant probe.
The petitioner claimed that despite joining investigation on various dates in a domestic violence case, his attendance was never officially recorded and he had to resort to filing of documents and obtaining receiving of the contemporary dates in order to prove his attendance.

"After the investigating officer (IO) refused to record his attendance, he apprehended arrest on the pretext of failure to join the probe and, therefore, moved trial court for anticipatory bail and got the relief," the petition said.
During the hearing of the bail plea, the IO submitted that the petitioner was not joining the probe, it said.
Later, the petitioner filed a complaint with senior police officers about the alleged conduct and threats extended to him by the IO and claiming that he had misled the court.