No automatic arrest in IPC 498A, says Supreme Court

Supreme court has been giving judgments on misuse of IPC 498A for many number of years, and they had even asked the law ministry to consider amending it. Many states have police circulars already on doing investigation or taking permission of higher police like DCP before arresting under 498A but there is no guarantee that these rules are followed. The advisory/letter/circular issued by home ministry in government of India is given here.

Update 16-Apr-2015: If anyone got arrested under IPC 498A (or other offences less than 7 years punishment) without CrPC 41/41A procedure, read this post on how to take action police or magistrate as applicable.

Update on 14-Jul-2014: According to latest on the ground information, Punjab police has refused to arrest in a 498A case filed in Jun 2014 citing this SC judgment. Which means that threat of contempt of court and departmental action has got some sense into police that they have to follow CrPC 41 and 41a and not merely act like zombies and arrest everyone and their dog upon filing 498A complaint. People are advised to file contempt of court in High court against police if they arrest you without following CrPC 41 and 41a guidelines.

Section 41a of CrPC has been put in place since 2010 but by all evidence from 498A cases, police doesn’t bother to record reasons for arrest or no arrest as is required under that section. This landmark judgment of Supreme Court has come with certain enforceable guidelines to prevent the arbitrary use of arrest by police in all offences up to 7 years of punishment - which includes IPC 498A too.

Salient points of judgment Arnesh Kumar vs State of Bihar

Salient points of judgment are mentioned in sections below containing excerpts of judgment, and later full text of judgment is at the end of this article.

Points regarding prevalent situation of arbitrary arrests under IPC 498A

No arrest can be made in a routine manner on a mere allegation of commission of an offence made against a person. It would be prudent and wise for a police officer that no arrest is made without a reasonable satisfaction reached after some investigation as to the genuineness of the allegation.

Nearly a quarter of those arrested under this provision in 2012 were women i.e. 47,951 which depicts that mothers and sisters of the husbands were liberally included in their arrest net. Its share is 6 per cent out of the total persons arrested under the crimes committed under Indian Penal Code. It accounts for 4.5 per cent of total crimes committed under different sections of penal code, more than any other crimes except theft and hurt.

The rate of charge-sheeting in cases is as high as 93.6 per cent, while the conviction rate is only 15 per cent, which is lowest across all heads and as many as 3,72,706 cases are pending at trial stage.

Power to arrest greatly contributes to its arrogance so also the failure of the magistracy to check it. Not only this, the power of arrest is one of the lucrative sources of police corruption. The attitude to arrest first and then proceed with the rest is despicable. It has become a handy tool to the police officers who lack sensitivity or act with oblique motive.

Criticism of judiciary in allowing needless arrests

In many of the cases, detention is authorised in a routine, casual and cavalier manner. Before a Magistrate authorises detention under Section 167, Cr.PC, he has to be first satisfied that the arrest made is legal and in accordance with law and all the constitutional rights of the person arrested is satisfied. If the arrest effected by the police officer does not satisfy the requirements of Section 41 of the Code, Magistrate is duty bound not to authorise his further detention and release the accused.

Duty prescribed for magistrate for scrutiny of arrest

In fine, when a suspect is arrested and produced before a Magistrate for authorising detention, the Magistrate has to address the question whether specific reasons have been recorded for arrest and if so, prima facie those reasons are relevant and secondly a reasonable conclusion could at all be reached by the police officer that one or the other conditions stated above are attracted. To this limited extent the Magistrate will make judicial scrutiny.

Directions given by Supreme Court to Police and Magistrates regarding arrest, notice, procedures under CrPC 41, notice under CrPC 41A

Our endeavour in this judgment is to ensure that police officers do not arrest accused unnecessarily and Magistrate do not authorise detention casually and mechanically. In order to ensure what we have observed above, we give the following direction:

(1) All the State Governments to instruct its police officers not to automatically arrest when a case under Section 498-A of the IPC is registered but to satisfy themselves about the necessity for arrest under the parameters laid down above flowing from Section 41, Cr.PC;

(2) All police officers be provided with a check list containing specified sub-clauses under Section 41(1)(b)(ii); (3) The police officer shall forward the check list duly filed and furnish the reasons and materials which necessitated the arrest, while forwarding/producing the accused before the Magistrate for further detention;

(4) The Magistrate while authorising detention of the accused shall peruse the report furnished by the police officer in terms aforesaid and only after recording its satisfaction, the Magistrate will authorise detention;

(5) The decision not to arrest an accused, be forwarded to the Magistrate within two weeks from the date of the institution of the case with a copy to the Magistrate which may be extended by the Superintendent of police of the district for the reasons to be recorded in writing;

(6) Notice of appearance in terms of Section 41A of Cr.PC be served on the accused within two weeks from the date of institution of the case, which may be extended by the Superintendent of Police of the District for the reasons to be recorded in writing;

Penal actions on police for arbitrary arrests under IPC 498A (and other offences up to 7 years punishment)

(7) Failure to comply with the directions aforesaid shall apart from rendering the police officers concerned liable for departmental action, they shall also be liable to be punished for contempt of court to be instituted before High Court having territorial jurisdiction.

Penal actions on magistrates for routinely allowing arrests without scrutiny

(8) Authorising detention without recording reasons as aforesaid by the judicial Magistrate concerned shall be liable for departmental action by the appropriate High Court.

Applicable to all offences with punishment up to 7 years

We hasten to add that the directions aforesaid shall not only apply to the cases under Section 498-A of the I.P.C. or Section 4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act, the case in hand, but also such cases where offence is punishable with imprisonment for a term which may be less than seven years or which may extend to seven years; whether with or without fine.

So public should know that it can approach high courts against police and magistrates if the provisions of CrPC section 41 and this judgment are not followed. Click on this to read a real life judgment where this was successfully done by accused husband. Lastly, the judgment is applicable for all offences with punishment upto 7 years, not just IPC 498A. So its scope is much wider and it is really against arbitrary exercise of power of arrest by police and it’s routine authorisation by judiciary rather than just misuse of 498A, which by the way is heavily abused as given by way of statistics in judgment too.

👉Take this Basic Quiz on IPC 498A and CrPC 41A to test your knowledge of their legal provisions

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Full judgment text below

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REPORTABLE

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA

CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION

CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 1277 OF 2014
(@SPECIAL LEAVE PETITION (CRL.) No.9127 of 2013)

ARNESH KUMAR ..... APPELLANT

VERSUS

STATE OF BIHAR & ANR. .... RESPONDENTS

J U D G M E N T

Chandramauli Kr. Prasad

The petitioner apprehends his arrest in a case

under Section 498-A of the Indian Penal Code, 1860

(hereinafter called as IPC) and Section 4 of the

Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961. The maximum sentence

provided under Section 498-A IPC is imprisonment

for a term which may extend to three years and

fine whereas the maximum sentence provided under

Page 1

Section 4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act is two

years and with fine.

Petitioner happens to be the husband of

respondent no.2 Sweta Kiran. The marriage between

them was solemnized on 1 July, 2007. His attempt
st

to secure anticipatory bail has failed and hence

he has knocked the door of this Court by way of

this Special Leave Petition.

Leave granted.

In sum and substance, allegation levelled by

the wife against the appellant is that demand of

Rupees eight lacs, a maruti car, an air-

conditioner, television set etc. was made by her

mother-in-law and father-in-law and when this fact

was brought to the appellant’s notice, he

supported his mother and threatened to marry

another woman. It has been alleged that she was

Page 2

driven out of the matrimonial home due to non-

fulfilment of the demand of dowry.

Denying these allegations, the appellant

preferred an application for anticipatory bail

which was earlier rejected by the learned Sessions

Judge and thereafter by the High Court.

There is phenomenal increase in matrimonial

disputes in recent years. The institution of

marriage is greatly revered in this country.

Section 498-A of the IPC was introduced with

avowed object to combat the menace of harassment

to a woman at the hands of her husband and his

relatives. The fact that Section 498-A is a

cognizable and non-bailable offence has lent it a

dubious place of pride amongst the provisions that

are used as weapons rather than shield by

disgruntled wives. The simplest way to harass is

to get the husband and his relatives arrested

under this provision. In a quite number of cases,

Page 3

bed-ridden grand-fathers and grand-mothers of the

husbands, their sisters living abroad for decades

are arrested. “Crime in India 2012 Statistics”

published by National Crime Records Bureau,

Ministry of Home Affairs shows arrest of 1,97,762

persons all over India during the year 2012 for

offence under Section 498-A of the IPC, 9.4% more

than the year 2011. Nearly a quarter of those

arrested under this provision in 2012 were women

i.e. 47,951 which depicts that mothers and sisters

of the husbands were liberally included in their

arrest net. Its share is 6% out of the total

persons arrested under the crimes committed under

Indian Penal Code. It accounts for 4.5% of total

crimes committed under different sections of penal

code, more than any other crimes excepting theft

and hurt. The rate of charge-sheeting in cases

under Section 498A, IPC is as high as 93.6%, while

the conviction rate is only 15%, which is lowest

across all heads. As many as 3,72,706 cases are

Page 4

pending trial of which on current estimate, nearly

3,17,000 are likely to result in acquittal.

Arrest brings humiliation, curtails freedom

and cast scars forever. Law makers know it so

also the police. There is a battle between the

law makers and the police and it seems that police

has not learnt its lesson; the lesson implicit and

embodied in the Cr.PC. It has not come out of its

colonial image despite six decades of

independence, it is largely considered as a tool

of harassment, oppression and surely not

considered a friend of public. The need for

caution in exercising the drastic power of arrest

has been emphasized time and again by Courts but

has not yielded desired result. Power to arrest

greatly contributes to its arrogance so also the

failure of the Magistracy to check it. Not only

this, the power of arrest is one of the lucrative

sources of police corruption. The attitude to

arrest first and then proceed with the rest is

Page 5

despicable. It has become a handy tool to the

police officers who lack sensitivity or act with

oblique motive.

Law Commissions, Police Commissions and this

Court in a large number of judgments emphasized

the need to maintain a balance between individual

liberty and societal order while exercising the

power of arrest. Police officers make arrest as

they believe that they possess the power to do so.

As the arrest curtails freedom, brings humiliation

and casts scars forever, we feel differently. We

believe that no arrest should be made only

because the offence is non-bailable and cognizable

and therefore, lawful for the police officers to

do so. The existence of the power to arrest is

one thing, the justification for the exercise of

it is quite another. Apart from power to arrest,

the police officers must be able to justify the

reasons thereof. No arrest can be made in a

routine manner on a mere allegation of commission

of an offence made against a person. It would be

Page 6

prudent and wise for a police officer that no

arrest is made without a reasonable satisfaction

reached after some investigation as to the

genuineness of the allegation. Despite this legal

position, the Legislature did not find any

improvement. Numbers of arrest have not

decreased. Ultimately, the Parliament had to

intervene and on the recommendation of the 177th

Report of the Law Commission submitted in the year

2001, Section 41 of the Code of Criminal Procedure

(for short ‘Cr.PC), in the present form came to be

enacted. It is interesting to note that such a

recommendation was made by the Law Commission in

its 152nd and 154th Report submitted as back in the
year 1994. The value of the proportionality

permeates the amendment relating to arrest. As

the offence with which we are concerned in the

present appeal, provides for a maximum punishment

of imprisonment which may extend to seven years

and fine, Section 41(1)(b), Cr.PC which is

relevant for the purpose reads as follows:

Page 7

“ 41. When police may arrest without
warrant .-(1) Any police officer may without
an order from a Magistrate and without a
warrant, arrest any person –

(a) x x x x x x

(b) against whom a reasonable complaint
has been made, or credible information
has   been   received,   or   a   reasonable
suspicion exists that he has committed a
cognizable   offence   punishable   with
imprisonment for a term which may be less
than seven years or which may extend to
seven years whether with or without fine,
if   the   following   conditions   are
satisfied, namely :-

(i) x x x x x

(ii) the police officer is satisfied
that such arrest is necessary –

(a) to prevent such person from
committing any further offence; or

(b) for proper investigation of the
offence; or

(c) to prevent such person from causing
the evidence of the offence to
disappear or tampering with such
evidence in any manner; or

(d) to prevent such person from making
any inducement, threat or promise
to any person acquainted with the
facts of the case so as to dissuade
him from disclosing such facts to
the Court or to the police officer;
or

(e) as unless such person is arrested,
his presence in the Court whenever
required cannot be ensured,

Page 8

and the police officer shall record while
making such arrest, his reasons in writing:

Provided that a police officer shall, in
all cases where the arrest of a person is
not required under the provisions of this
sub-section, record the reasons in writing
for not making the arrest.

X x x x x x

From a plain reading of the aforesaid provision,

it is evident that a person accused of offence

punishable with imprisonment for a term which

may be less than seven years or which may extend

to seven years with or without fine, cannot be

arrested by the police officer only on its

satisfaction that such person had committed the

offence punishable as aforesaid. Police officer

before arrest, in such cases has to be further

satisfied that such arrest is necessary to

prevent such person from committing any further

offence; or for proper investigation of the

case; or to prevent the accused from causing the

Page 9

evidence of the offence to disappear; or

tampering with such evidence in any manner; or

to prevent such person from making any

inducement, threat or promise to a witness so as

to dissuade him from disclosing such facts to

the Court or the police officer; or unless such

accused person is arrested, his presence in the

court whenever required cannot be ensured.

These are the conclusions, which one may reach

based on facts. Law mandates the police officer

to state the facts and record the reasons in

writing which led him to come to a conclusion

covered by any of the provisions aforesaid,

while making such arrest. Law further requires

the police officers to record the reasons in

writing for not making the arrest. In pith and

core, the police office before arrest must put a

question to himself, why arrest? Is it really

required? What purpose it will serve? What

object it will achieve? It is only after these

questions are addressed and one or the other

Page 10

conditions as enumerated above is satisfied, the

power of arrest needs to be exercised. In fine,

before arrest first the police officers should

have reason to believe on the basis of

information and material that the accused has

committed the offence. Apart from this, the

police officer has to be satisfied further that

the arrest is necessary for one or the more

purposes envisaged by sub-clauses (a) to (e) of

clause (1) of Section 41 of Cr.PC.

An accused arrested without warrant by

the police has the constitutional right under

Article 22(2) of the Constitution of India and

Section 57, Cr.PC to be produced before the

Magistrate without unnecessary delay and in no

circumstances beyond 24 hours excluding the time

necessary for the journey. During the course of

investigation of a case, an accused can be kept

in detention beyond a period of 24 hours only

when it is authorised by the Magistrate in

Page 11

exercise of power under Section 167 Cr.PC. The

power to authorise detention is a very solemn

function. It affects the liberty and freedom of

citizens and needs to be exercised with great

care and caution. Our experience tells us that

it is not exercised with the seriousness it

deserves. In many of the cases, detention is

authorised in a routine, casual and cavalier

manner. Before a Magistrate authorises

detention under Section 167, Cr.PC, he has to be

first satisfied that the arrest made is legal

and in accordance with law and all the

constitutional rights of the person arrested is

satisfied. If the arrest effected by the police

officer does not satisfy the requirements of

Section 41 of the Code, Magistrate is duty bound

not to authorise his further detention and

release the accused. In other words, when an

accused is produced before the Magistrate, the

police officer effecting the arrest is required

to furnish to the Magistrate, the facts, reasons

Page 12

and its conclusions for arrest and the

Magistrate in turn is to be satisfied that

condition precedent for arrest under Section 41

Cr.PC has been satisfied and it is only

thereafter that he will authorise the detention

of an accused. The Magistrate before

authorising detention will record its own

satisfaction, may be in brief but the said

satisfaction must reflect from its order. It

shall never be based upon the ipse dixit of the

police officer, for example, in case the police

officer considers the arrest necessary to

prevent such person from committing any further

offence or for proper investigation of the case

or for preventing an accused from tampering with

evidence or making inducement etc., the police

officer shall furnish to the Magistrate the

facts, the reasons and materials on the basis of

which the police officer had reached its

conclusion. Those shall be perused by the

Magistrate while authorising the detention and

Page 13

only after recording its satisfaction in writing

that the Magistrate will authorise the detention

of the accused. In fine, when a suspect is

arrested and produced before a Magistrate for

authorising detention, the Magistrate has to

address the question whether specific reasons

have been recorded for arrest and if so, prima

facie those reasons are relevant and secondly a

reasonable conclusion could at all be reached by

the police officer that one or the other

conditions stated above are attracted. To this

limited extent the Magistrate will make judicial

scrutiny.

Another provision i.e. Section 41A Cr.PC

aimed to avoid unnecessary arrest or threat of

arrest looming large on accused requires to be

vitalised. Section 41A as inserted by Section

6 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment)

Act, 2008(Act 5 of 2009), which is relevant in

the context reads as follows:

Page 14

“41A. Notice of appearance before
police   officer.-(1)   The   police
officer shall, in all cases where
the   arrest   of   a   person   is   not
required   under   the   provisions   of
sub-section (1) of Section 41, issue
a   notice   directing   the   person
against whom a reasonable complaint
has   been   made,   or   credible
information has been received, or a
reasonable suspicion exists that he
has committed a cognizable offence,
to appear before him or at such
other place as may be specified in
the notice.

(2) Where such a notice is issued to
any person, it shall be the duty of
that person to comply with the terms
of the notice.

(3) Where such person complies and
continues to comply with the notice,
he shall not be arrested in respect
of the offence referred to in the
notice unless, for reasons to be
recorded, the police officer is of
the opinion that he ought to be
arrested.

(4) Where such person, at any time,
fails to comply with the terms of
the   notice   or   is   unwilling   to
identify himself, the police officer
may, subject to such orders as may
have   been   passed   by   a   competent
Court in this behalf, arrest him for
the   offence   mentioned   in   the
notice.”

Page 15

Aforesaid provision makes it clear that

in all cases where the arrest of a person is not

required under Section 41(1), Cr.PC, the police

officer is required to issue notice directing

the accused to appear before him at a specified

place and time. Law obliges such an accused to

appear before the police officer and it further

mandates that if such an accused complies with

the terms of notice he shall not be arrested,

unless for reasons to be recorded, the police

office is of the opinion that the arrest is

necessary. At this stage also, the condition

precedent for arrest as envisaged under Section

41 Cr.PC has to be complied and shall be subject

to the same scrutiny by the Magistrate as

aforesaid.

We are of the opinion that if the

provisions of Section 41, Cr.PC which authorises

the police officer to arrest an accused without

an order from a Magistrate and without a warrant

Page 16

are scrupulously enforced, the wrong committed

by the police officers intentionally or

unwittingly would be reversed and the number of

cases which come to the Court for grant of

anticipatory bail will substantially reduce. We

would like to emphasise that the practice of

mechanically reproducing in the case diary all

or most of the reasons contained in Section 41

Cr.PC for effecting arrest be discouraged and

discontinued.

Our endeavour in this judgment is to ensure

that police officers do not arrest accused

unnecessarily and Magistrate do not authorise

detention casually and mechanically. In order

to ensure what we have observed above, we give

the following direction:

(1) All the State Governments to instruct its

police officers not to automatically arrest

when a case under Section 498-A of the IPC

is registered but to satisfy themselves

about the necessity for arrest under the

Page 17

parameters laid down above flowing from

Section 41, Cr.PC;

(2) All police officers be provided with a

check list containing specified sub-clauses

under Section 41(1)(b)(ii);

(3) The police officer shall forward the check

list duly filed and furnish the reasons and

materials which necessitated the arrest,

while forwarding/producing the accused

before the Magistrate for further

detention;

(4) The Magistrate while authorising detention

of the accused shall peruse the report

furnished by the police officer in terms

aforesaid and only after recording its

satisfaction, the Magistrate will authorise

detention;

(5) The decision not to arrest an accused, be

forwarded to the Magistrate within two

weeks from the date of the institution of

Page 18

the case with a copy to the Magistrate

which may be extended by the Superintendent

of police of the district for the reasons

to be recorded in writing;

(6) Notice of appearance in terms of Section

41A of Cr.PC be served on the accused

within two weeks from the date of

institution of the case, which may be

extended by the Superintendent of Police of

the District for the reasons to be recorded

in writing;

(7) Failure to comply with the directions

aforesaid shall apart from rendering the

police officers concerned liable for

departmental action, they shall also be

liable to be punished for contempt of court

to be instituted before High Court having

territorial jurisdiction.

(8) Authorising detention without recording

reasons as aforesaid by the judicial

Page 19

Magistrate concerned shall be liable for

departmental action by the appropriate High

Court.

We hasten to add that the directions

aforesaid shall not only apply to the cases

under Section 498-A of the I.P.C. or Section 4

of the Dowry Prohibition Act, the case in

hand, but also such cases where offence is

punishable with imprisonment for a term which

may be less than seven years or which may

extend to seven years; whether with or without

fine.

We direct that a copy of this judgment be

forwarded to the Chief Secretaries as also the

Director Generals of Police of all the State

Governments and the Union Territories and the

Registrar General of all the High Courts for

onward transmission and ensuring its

compliance.

Page 20

By order dated 31 of October, 2013, this
st

Court had granted provisional bail to the

appellant on certain conditions. We make this

order absolute.

In the result, we allow this appeal,

making our aforesaid order dated 31 October,
st

2013 absolute; with the directions aforesaid.

………………………………………………………………J

(CHANDRAMAULI KR. PRASAD)