Police/investigating agencies must scrupulously follow all constitutional/statutory safeguards and Supreme Court guidelines while arresting a person.

31) Police/investigating agencies must scrupulously follow all constitutional/statutory safeguards and Supreme Court guidelines while arresting a person.

The Court issued a general direction to the police/investigating agencies to scrupulously follow all constitutional and statutory safeguards and additional guidelines laid down by it when a person is arrested by them and/or remanded to their custody. It said that arbitrary actions by persons in power against an ordinary citizen in a non-bargaining situation bring shame to the entire justice delivery system.

The Court strongly condemned the arbitrary action of the police officer who abused his official position by physically assaulting and verbally abusing the appellant in police custody. The Court found that the police officer had committed "excesses against the appellant".

Case Title- Somnath v. State of Maharashtra & Ors. (Neutral Citation: 2024 INSC 232)