Remand (Part 1)

Question: How does arrest happen after a case is registered, and how does physical remand happen after arrest? And in what circumstances should physical remand be granted, and in what circumstances should it not be granted?

Solution: An FIR is registered under Section 154 CrPC. Any person can come and report the commission of a cognizable offence, whether verbally or in writing. If given verbally, the police officer is duty-bound to write it down and then get the informant's signature or thumbprint on it. If given in writing, it will be signed by the person giving it. And the officer-in-charge of the police station is duty-bound that whenever he receives information of the commission of a cognizable offence within his jurisdiction, he must register the case, register the report, under Section 154 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

Now once the case is registered, it is sent, for the purpose of investigation under Section 156, in written form, that complaint and FIR, to the investigation wing, to the in-charge of the investigation cell. A whole team works under the in-charge of the investigation cell. He may keep the investigation with himself, or he may assign it to one of his other officers. Now, the registration of a case does not mean that the local police or the investigating officer should start raiding the accused's home to arrest him, or start taking action to arrest him, or start carting away belongings or livestock from his home. Absolutely not. The investigating officer is legally bound that once the written complaint and FIR come to him, he must investigate whether it is true, investigate whether it is true. He must go to the scene, gather evidence at the scene, take the statement of the complainant and the complainant's witnesses, verify that statement. After verification, if facts have come onto the record such that, in their presence, it becomes necessary to arrest the accused so that the prosecution's case is not harmed, then he will move to arrest him. That is what the law says.

Now, once this whole difficulty is resolved, and the investigating officer becomes satisfied that yes, this accused who is named in the FIR, or any other accused named later in what is called a supplementary statement, and there is also evidence on the case record against him, that he should be arrested, then he moves to arrest him. I will stay limited to this topic for now: that the police arrest this accused. Now, who can make an arrest? Can only police officers make an arrest? Does an ordinary person have the authority to arrest anyone?

Section 59 of the Code of Criminal Procedure gives an ordinary person the authority to arrest any accused, but for this it is essential to be certain that the person he is seizing, the person he is arresting, has actually committed a cognizable offence, or is a proclaimed offender in some case. An ordinary person can also make an arrest, but as soon as he does, what are his responsibilities? As soon as he makes the arrest, his first responsibility is to inform the local police immediately, without any delay, and to try to hand the person over to the custody of the relevant police station where the case was registered, or to call them. And if the relevant police station is far away...

It often happens that a crime occurs within the jurisdiction of Mazang police station in Lahore. I come to know of it while I am in Bahawalpur, and I find out that this is the very person who committed that crime, and a case is registered against him. So I will arrest him right there in the Bahawalpur region. I am not a police officer, I am not a police official. I will arrest him then and there, and wherever I arrest him, I will take him to the nearest police station and say, such-and-such case has occurred, registered at such-and-such police station, this is the accused in it, he is a proclaimed offender, he is a fugitive, so he should be detained. They will then inform the relevant police station, and the relevant police station will dispatch officers from their own station to come and collect him.

Now the question arises: is it really this simple, that the Bahawalpur police inform the Lahore police, and the Lahore police go and bring the accused back from Bahawalpur, taking him into their custody? Is it that simple? If the matter falls within twenty-four hours, then yes, this can be done. But if it does not fall within twenty-four hours, then the police station there will produce him before their local magistrate in Bahawalpur, and that magistrate will send him to jail for safe custody (rahdari). Then, from the jail, the police station where the case is registered will approach the Sessions Judge of Bahawalpur, seek permission from the Sessions Judge, and after obtaining that permission, take him into custody from the jail. So the moment they take him into their custody, the twenty-four-hour clock starts ticking, and within those twenty-four hours they will try to complete his investigation.

If the investigation is not complete within twenty-four hours, and the police officer holding his physical custody for those twenty-four hours says the investigation could not be completed within twenty-four hours, that he needs the accused's body for further investigation, then within those twenty-four hours he must produce him before the local magistrate, along with a written application stating that this accused was arrested in such-and-such manner, his investigation could not be completed, his investigation is still to be completed in this case, for which I need his physical remand, for these reasons.

If the nature of the offence is such that no recovery is involved that would strengthen the prosecution's case, magistrates do not grant physical remand, because they have been instructed that every person has constitutional responsibilities not to curtail another person's liberty. When the accused is produced before the magistrate after twenty-four hours, the investigating officer must place before the magistrate all the facts that justify granting him physical remand. Now, suppose they go before the magistrate and say, sir, a pistol is to be recovered from him, military documents are to be recovered from him, item A is to be recovered, item B, whatever the matters of this case are, then the magistrate hands him over to the police on three days' physical remand. Now, keep one thing in mind here: physical remand does not mean that he will be beaten. Any kind of physical assault is a crime, this cannot happen, this is not permitted under the law, for any investigating officer, any police official, to physically torture any accused who is with them on physical remand.