The officers of the organization established under the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act have been given the power to arrest any individual who is suspected of or has been confirmed of having committed an offence notified under Section 3 of the DSPE Act. Thus, any crime that’s notified u/s 3 of the DSPE Act will lead to CBI Arrest.

Crime Not Included In Section 3 but Is Investigated By CBI

Even if he is reasonably suspected of being involved in a crime which is not included in Section 3 but is being investigated by the CBI, such person can be arrested by the CBI officers with or without a warrant.

However, such power is not directly conferred upon the officers by the DSPE Act. Instead, these powers are drawn from Section 41 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

According to the provisions of this section in the Cr.P.C, the officers of the CBI (Delhi Special Police Establishment) can arrest any person against whom an arrest warrant has been issued by the court. The officers have no discretion in carrying out the arrest warrant issued by the courts.

Arrest Warrant Issued Didn’t Lead To CBI Arrest

In case, the individual against whom a warrant of arrest has been issued by a Court cannot be arrested within the time specified in the warrant, a fresh warrant can be obtained after returning the unexecuted one.

As provided in Section 46 of the Cr.P.C. in making the arrest, an Officer is allowed, by law, to touch or confine the body of the person to be arrested, unless there is submission to the custody by word or action. If any person forcibly resists the endeavor to arrest him or attempts to evade the arrest, all means necessary, including reasonable force may be used.

It must be remembered while using reasonable force that the law does not give a right to the Police Officer to cause death of a person who is not accused of an offence punishable with death or with imprisonment for life. The use of handcuffs should be avoided as far as possible, and if it is necessary to use them, their use should be such that it is in conformity with the law laid down in the case of Prem Ram Shukla vs. Delhi Administration.^[1]

However, the action of arresting a person is an extremely serious one. It not only attaches a social stigma to the person so arrested but also takes away the personal liberty of a person. Hence, the discretionary power of CBI arrest conferred upon the officers of the Bureau should be exercised in a very careful and controlled manner. In case of no warrants having been issued, the  CBI arrest should be made iff it is reasonably felt that the individual so arrested is involved in the commission of a cognizable offence for which he can be prosecuted before a court of law.

A person can also be arrested on the reasonable suspicion that he might try to tamper with or destroy evidence or is likely to evade the process of law. Thus, it is the usual practice for the Superintendent of Police to satisfy himself with the facts and the reasoning before the accused can be arrested. This can be done by reading the case report and by evaluating the evidence collected during the progression of the investigation.

Process Of The CBI Arrest

The CBI arrest of a person accused has to be done in compliance with certain rules and procedures. In India, the procedure of CBI arrest- for government officials differs from the CBI arrest- of the normal public.

The main difference between the two is that-

• A public servant is to be arrested only if and when it becomes absolutely essential to do so in the interest of the investigation.
• A government official can be arrested if there is enough reason to believe that the accused would abscond, will try to destroy the evidence, or act in such a way as to avoid the legal process.

After the decision of the arrest has been taken-

• After the decision of CBI arrest has been taken, necessary sanction for affecting the arrest has to be obtained- usually from the Superintendent of Police.
• Furthermore, while executing such arrest, proper steps should be taken, beforehand, to ensure that the work of the Department where the accused works don’t get affected too much.
• It should be made sure that the news of the arrest is conveyed to the authority, to which such public servant is the subordinate, so that suitable alternative administrative arrangements could be made.
  In case, the arrest cannot be postponed for any exceptional reason and his immediate superior cannot be informed in advance, he should be informed soon after making an arrest of the public servant. A report will be sent to the Head Office detailing the reasons for effecting arrest without giving prior information to the immediate superior Officer of the public servant concerned.

In the case of the CBI arrest of a personnel of the Armed Forces, the information relating to the arrest as well as the time at which the arrest of a person is to be executed has to be intimated to the next commanding officer. A similar intimation is to be sent to the parent unit of the Commanding officer as well.

When it comes to CBI arrest of a Member of the Parliament, the Superintendent of Police of the Branch making the arrest shall intimate the DIG and the Head Office regarding the same and also immediately intimate the same to the Speaker of the Lok Sabha/Legislature or the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, as the case may be, indicating the reasons for CBI arrest of the said member and the place of detention or imprisonment in the form prescribed in the Third Schedule of the book titled “Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business for Lok Sabha”.

A notice is also to be given to the Presiding Officers of State Legislature in case of CBI arrest of the members belonging to those Legislatures. Where intimation of CBI arrest or detention is sent by wireless or e-mail or telegram, the information on all the points mentioned in the form should be given properly and clearly.

Information regarding whether an arrested Member has been released on bail pending investigation or trial should also be provided to the concerned authorities.

After all this has been done, the consent of the speaker of the House is to be taken to arrest the member of the house on the precinct of the House. Without such permission, no CBI arrest can be made on the grounds of the House.

In the case of CBI arrest of common people, however, the procedure mentioned in the Cr.P.C. as mentioned above are the only procedures that are to be followed while executing an arrest.

Process Followed After CBI Arrest

The process that is to be followed after executing a CBI arrest has been laid down in the case of D.K. Basu vs. The State of West Bengal^[2] where the following guidelines were laid down:

• The Police Personnel carrying out the CBI arrest and handling the interrogation of the arrestee should bear accurate, visible and clear identification and name tags with their designations. The particulars of all such Police Personnel who handle interrogation of the arrestee must be recorded in a register.

• The Police Officer carrying out the arrest of the arrestee shall prepare a memo of the arrest at the time of arrest and such memo shall be attested by at least one witness, who may either be a member of the family of the arrestee or a respectable person of the locality from where the arrest is made. It shall also be countersigned by the arrestee and shall contain the time and date of the CBI arrest.

• A person who has been arrested or detained and is being held in custody in a Police station or interrogation center or other lock-up, shall be entitled to have one friend or relative or other person known to him or having interest in his welfare being informed, as soon as practicable, that he has been arrested and is being detained at the particular place, unless the attesting witness of the memo of arrest is himself such a friend or a relative of the arrestee.

• The time, place of CBI arrest and venue of custody of an arrestee must be notified by the Police where the next friend or relative of the arrestee lives outside the district or town through the Legal Aid Organization in the District and the Police Station of the area concerned telegraphically within a period of 8 to 12 hours after the CBI arrest.

• The person arrested must be made aware of the list of rights to have someone informed of his arrest or detention as soon as he is put under arrest or is detained.

• An entry must be made in the diary at the place of detention regarding the CBI arrest of the person which shall also disclose the name of the next friend of the person who has been informed of the arrest and the names and particulars of the Police officials in whose custody the arrestee is.

• The arrestee should, where he so requests, be also examined at the time of his arrest and major and minor injuries, if any present on his/her body, must be recorded at that time. The “Inspection Memo” must be signed both by the arrestee and the Police Officer affecting the arrest and its copy provided to the arrestee.

• The arrestee should be subjected to medical examination by every 48 hours during his detention in custody by a doctor on the panel of approved Doctors appointed by Director, Health Services of the State or Union Territory concerned. Director, Health Services should prepare such a panel for all tehsils and districts as well.

• Copies of all the documents, including the memo of the CBI arrest, referred to above, should be sent to the Illaqa Magistrate for his record.

• The arrestee can be permitted to meet his lawyer during interrogation, though not throughout the interrogation.

• A Police control room should be made available at all the District and State Headquarters, where information regarding the arrest and the place of custody of the arrestee shall be communicated by the Officer causing the arrest- within 12 hours of effecting the arrest by CBI- and at the Police control room. It should be displayed on a conspicuous notice board.

Apart from this, an arrest report showing the time date and place of arrest as well as the one including the FIR number with the provisions of the law which have been violated by the arrested person have to be made and sent to the magistrate by the Investigating Officer. Such report has to be counter-signed by at least one witness who can be any person who is respected and a resident of the area, along with the signature of the trustee.

If an arrested accused is not released on bail, he should be produced before the Magistrate, having jurisdiction over the case in accordance with the provisions of the law- at the earliest.  And in any other case- within 24 hours (excluding the journey time) as per Section 57 Cr.P.C.- he should get remanded to Police/judicial custody.

In cases, where it is not possible to produce the accused before the Magistrate before the fall of night and it becomes necessary for the DSPE Officers to retain the accused in Police custody, he may be lodged in the Branch/ Unit lock-up or in the lock-up of the nearest local Police Station.

The SP should have a working arrangement with the local Police authorities for using their lock-up facilities.

This’s all about CBI Arrest Guidelines for now. Did you find this post useful?  Let us know in the comments Below. Don’t forget to Share!

References:

^[1] (1980) 3 SCC 526

^[2] AIR 1997 S.C. 610