Arrest should be last option for police: HC

Allahabad: The Allahabad High Court has observed that the arrest of a person against whom an FIR has been lodged "should be the last option" and restricted to cases where such an action is "imperative" or custodial interrogation is required.

"Irrational and indiscriminate arrests are a gross violation of human rights," Justice Siddharth said while granting anticipatory bail to one Sachin Saini of Bulandshahr against whom an FIR was registered for voluntary causing hurt and threat to cause death apart from other sections of the IPC.

After the lodging of an FIR, the arrest can be made by the police at will, the court said, adding there is no definite period fixed for the police to arrest an accused against whom an FIR has been lodged.

"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. Irrational and indiscriminate arrests are a gross violation of human rights," the court held. In its order, the court has also referred to the case of one Joginder Kumar in which the apex court has referred to the third report of the National Police Commission, which mentioned that making arrests in India is "one of the chief sources" 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 the expenditure of

the jails.

Personal liberty is a very precious fundamental right and it should be curtailed only when it becomes imperative,

it said.