(1)Any police officer or other person authorised by the State Government in this behalf may, if there arc reasonable grounds to believe that a person is a neglected child, take that child into custody for bringing him before a court.(2)Every child taken into custody under sub-section (1) shall be brought before a Court within a period of twenty-four hours of such taking into custody excluding the time necessary for the journey to the Court from the- place where the child has been taken into custody.
