The Supreme Court held that an arrest cannot be declared illegal if the grounds of arrest are not communicated to the arrestee immediately. A written copy of the grounds must be supplied within a reasonable time and not less than two hours before the arrestee’s appearance before a magistrate.
The accused was arrested for a hit and run incident in July 2024. He approached the Bombay High Court arguing that the grounds of his arrest were not communicated to him as mandated under Article 22 and Section 50 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (BNS). The Bombay High Court upheld his arrest. On appeal, the Supreme Court stated that it will only look into the validity of his arrest and limited itself to two issues: Whether grounds of arrest must be communicated in every offence under the IPC or BNS; would an arrest be declared illegal if the grounds are not communicated prior to or immediately after the arrest?
The Court held that there can be no exceptions in communicating the grounds of arrest to an accused. It has to be supplied in a written format, in a language which is understandable to them. If immediate communication is not possible, it must be completed within a reasonable period of time.
Read the Judgement here.
Case Comment
it is pertinent to note that the provision of law under Section 50 of CrPC 1973 (Section 47 of BNSS 2023) does not provide for a specific mode of or time frame for communication of the grounds of arrest to the person arrested. This Court in Prabir Purkayastha (supra), held that the grounds of arrest be conveyed to the arrestee in writing in all offences at the earliest, which means it need not be given at the time of arrest but within a reasonable time thereafter, for offences under all the statutes, which period would be as has been laid down in this order.
Mihir Rajesh Shah v State of Maharashtra
6 November 2025
Citations: 2025 INSC 1295 | 2025 SCO.LR 11(2)[9]
Bench: Justices Sanjay Kumar and Alok Aradhe
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