There is a stark contrast between the guidelines for arresting a person and their actual implementation on the ground by the police, the Delhi High Court observed today.
Drawing special attention of the contrasting situation, a bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar stressed the need to train and sensitise the police on proper implementation of standard norms on arresting accused in criminal cases.
There exists a contrast between standard guidelines on effecting arrest and their actual implementation by police on ground, the court said.
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It said "we need to have a meaningful guideline" as a person cannot be arrested without a warrant, especially in family dispute cases, and this aspect is usually overlooked.
"The matter is of large public interest," it said, adding that guidelines may put end to the allegation of harassment and threat of arrest by police officials.
The court made the observation during hearing of a PIL filed by Delhi resident -- Amandeep Singh Johar -- seeking to frame the guidelines relating to arrest and summoning of any person to a police station.
Acting on which, the bench had asked Registrar General (RG) Dinesh Kumar Sharma to examine the issue raised before the court and place his status report.
In pursuance of a direction of a bench, the RG had held a meeting with stakeholders and found that the guidelines on arrest were not being implemented properly.
"It is evident that guidelines regarding arrest and how police officials must proceed with their investigation already exist. However, there appears to be a dichotomy between the said guidelines and the manner in which the true essence of the guidelines are required to be realised," the RG said in his status report.
The judicial officer had stressed on the modes of practices to be followed while making an arrest by the police officers, who should issue a notice directing the person against whom a reasonable complaint has been made, to appear before them.
He said the issuance of notice was in line with the right to life and liberty of the citizens and would help to bring down the number of arrests, which in turn would de-congest the crowded Indian jails.
"Simultaneously, the innocent too can feel secure in case they stand any chance of exposure to implication in a fake case," the 50-page report said.
The court fixed the matter for further hearing on December 20.
The plea, moved through advocate Nikhil Borwankar, sought a direction to the Delhi Police to refrain from arbitrarily summoning any person to the police station over telephone, unless exigent circumstances exist which is recorded by the officer in writing.
It also sought a direction to the agency to frame rules and the time-frame regarding inquiry into allegations against an investigating officer in an extant probe.
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