324. Accused to be forwarded to Magistrate and application for detention in police custody.
(a)Section 61 read with section 167 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, requires that an accused shall be sent forthwith to the nearest Magistrate, together with a copy of the entries, in the case diary, if the enquiry be not completed within 24 hours of his arrest: but in no case shall the accused remain in police custody longer than under all the circumstances of the case is reasonable.(b)The High Court have issued the following orders regarding remands :-"The attention of all Magistrates is invited to the provisions of section 167 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and to the importance of exercising a sound judicial discretion in the matter of granting or refusing remands thereunder. Orders under this section, it is to be observed, should be made in the presence of the prisoner and after hearing any objection he may have to make to the proposed order. When further detention is considered necessary the remand should be for the shortest possible period. Application for remands to police custody should be carefully scrutinized and in general should be granted only when it is shown that the presence of the accused with the police is necessary for the identification of persons, the discovery or identification of property, or the like special reason. In particular, the Court is of opinion that applications, if ever made, for the remand to police custody of a prisoner who has failed to make an expected confession or statement should not be granted."(c)When the conditions justifying a remand to police custody exist the station officer shall forward the accused to the nearest Magistrate (whether or not he has jurisdiction to try the case), together with a copy of his case diary and report the matter to the Superintendent.(d)The grounds upon which the remand is needed shall be distinctly stated in the application to the Magistrate.(e)An application for a remand to police custody shall not be treated as a matter of routine and of little importance. It shall be made to the Sub-divisional Magistrate through the chief police officer present at the district or Sub-divisional headquarters.(f)No order remanding an accused person to police custody shall be passed by an officer of lower status than a Magistrate of the 2nd class and applications for remands shall be made to Magistrates of the required status only.(g)The exercise of the power to remand a prisoner to police custody shall be restricted to stipendiary Magistrate of the required status, and in their absence, to Honorary Magistrates of the 1st class with single sitting powers.(h)When the object of the remand is the verification of the prisoner's statement he should be remanded to the charge of a Magistrate.(i)The period of remand shall be as short as possible.(j)Whenever an application for the remand of an accused person to police custody is made, he should invariably be produced before the Magistrate. Such an application should be made at the earliest possible moment and subsequent applications for further remands to police custody, where necessary, should be made in continuation of the former. An under-trial prisoner cannot remain in police custody after 15 days have elapsed from the date of his first production before the Magistrate.
