| Court | Supreme Court of India |
|---|---|
| Citation | (1997) 1 SCC 416; AIR 1997 SC 610 |
| Decided | 18 December 1996 |
| Bench | Justice Kuldip Singh, Justice A.S. Anand |
Facts
D.K. Basu, Executive Chairman of Legal Aid Services, West Bengal, wrote a letter to the Chief Justice of India drawing attention to newspaper reports of deaths in police custody. The letter was treated as a writ petition. A similar letter about a custodial death in Uttar Pradesh was heard alongside it.
Issue
What safeguards are needed to prevent custodial violence and protect the rights of arrested persons under Articles 21 and 22?
Held
Custodial torture is a naked violation of human dignity and Article 21. The Court laid down 11 requirements to be followed in all cases of arrest or detention, including:
- Police carrying out arrests must wear accurate, visible identification and name tags.
- An arrest memo must be prepared at the time of arrest, attested by a witness and countersigned by the arrestee, with the time and date.
- The arrestee has a right to have a friend or relative informed of the arrest and the place of detention.
- Where the relative lives outside the district, they must be informed through the Legal Aid Organisation within 8 to 12 hours.
- The arrestee must be told of these rights, and an entry made in the diary.
- The arrestee may be medically examined at the time of arrest, and by a doctor every 48 hours during detention.
- The arrestee may meet a lawyer during interrogation, though not throughout.
- A police control room must display information about arrests.
Failure to comply makes the officer liable to departmental action and contempt of court. The Court also held that the State is liable to pay compensation for custodial violence as a public law remedy.
Where these rules are now
Most of these requirements were written into the CrPC in 2009 (ss.41B, 41D, 50A, 55A) and carried into the BNSS in 2024: arrest memo (s.36), meeting an advocate (s.38), informing a relative (s.48), medical examination (ss.51–53) and the police control room (s.37). See our guide Your Rights When Arrested.
Exam one-liner
Custodial violence violates Article 21; the Court laid down 11 mandatory arrest safeguards and recognised State liability to compensate. (D.K. Basu, 1997)