Police should resort to arrest only as last option in exceptional cases: Allahabad High Court

Arrest of an individual should be the last option for the police and it should be resorted to only in exceptional cases when custodial interrogation is imperative, the Allahabad High Court reaffirmed. .The High Court said that though there is no definite time period fixed for the police to arrest an accused against whom an FIR has been lodged and arrest could be made by police at will, but irrational and indiscriminate arrests are a gross violation of human rights.."The courts have repeatedly held that arrest should be the last option for the police and it should be restricted to those exceptional cases where arresting the accused is imperative or his custodial interrogation is required," a Bench of Justice Siddharth Verma observed..The High Court was hearing an anticipatory bail application in relation to a case registered under Sections 452, 323, 504, 506 of IPC..Advocate Manoj Kumar Srivastava told the Court that the applicant was falsely implicated and that he had no criminal history..Srivastava further added that the applicant had definite apprehension that he may be arrested by the police any time..The Bench cited the case of Joginder Kumar v. State of Uttar Pradesh wherein the Supreme Court had adverted to the third report of National Police Commission. As per that report, arrests by the police in India was mentioned as one of the chief source of corruption in the police. ."The report suggested that, by and large, nearly 60 percent of the arrests were either unnecessary or unjustified and that such unjustified police action accounted for 43.2 percent of expenditure of the jails. Personal liberty is a very precious fundamental rights and it should be curtailed only when it becomes imperative. According to the peculiar facts and circumstances of the peculiar case the arrest of an accused should be made," the High Court said..Hence, without expressing any opinion on the merits of the case and considering the nature of accusations and antecedents of applicant, the Court allowed the plea for anticipatory bail.."In the event of arrest, the applicant shall be released on anticipatory bail. Let the applicant involved in the aforesaid crime be released on anticipatory bail on furnishing a personal bond with two sureties each in the like amount to the satisfaction of the trial court concerned," the Court ordered. .[Read Order]