Section 2(o) in The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973
(o)"officer-in-charge of a police station" includes, when the officer-in-charge of the police station is absent from the station-house or unable from illness or other cause to perform his duties, the police officer present at the station-house who is next in rank to such officer and is above the rank of a constable or, when the State Government so directs, any other police officer so present;
