New Delhi: Expressing concern over misuse of anti-dowry law by some wives against her husband and in-laws, the Supreme Court has ruled that police cannot arrest accused in such cases ‘automatically’ and it must give reasons for taking such steps which would be judicially examined.
“We direct all the state governments to instruct its police officers not to automatically arrest when a case under Section 498-A of the IPC (dowry harassment) is registered but to satisfy themselves about the necessity for arrest under the parameters laid down flowing from Section 41 CrPC,” a bench headed by Justice C K Prasad said.
“The simplest way to harass is to get the husband and his relatives arrested under this provision. In quite a number of cases, bed-ridden grand-fathers and grand-mothers of the husbands, their sisters living abroad for decades are arrested,” the bench said.
The bench said the arrest curtails freedom, brings humiliation and casts scars forever and no arrest should be made only because the offence is non-bailable and cognisable.
“The existence of the power to arrest is one thing, the justification for the exercise of it is quite another. Apart from power to arrest, the police officers must be able to justify the reasons thereof. No arrest can be made in a routine manner on a mere allegation of commission of an offence made against a person. It would be prudent and wise for a police officer that no arrest is made without a reasonable satisfaction reached after some investigation as to the genuineness of the allegation,” the bench said.
Referring to crime statistics, the Apex Court said 1,97,762 persons were arrested in 2012 for offence under Section 498-A.
“Its share is 6 percent out of the total persons arrested under the crimes committed under Indian Penal Code. It accounts for 4.5 percent of total crimes committed under different sections of penal code, more than any other crimes except theft and hurt,” it said.
It said the rate of chargesheeting in cases is as high as 93.6 percent, while the conviction rate is only 15 percent, which is lowest across all heads and as many as 3,72,706 cases are pending at trial stage.
The Apex Court said that police in the country has not come out of its colonial mindset.
“It has not come out of its colonial image despite six decades of Independence, it is largely considered as a tool of harassment, oppression and surely not considered a friend of public. The need for caution in exercising the drastic power of arrest has been emphasised time and again by courts but has not yielded desired result,” it said.
“Power to arrest greatly contributes to its arrogance so also the failure of the magistracy to check it. Not only this, the power of arrest is one of the lucrative sources of police corruption. The attitude to arrest first and then proceed with the rest is despicable. It has become a handy tool to the police officers who lack sensitivity or act with oblique motive,” it said.
The Apex Court said that failure of police officials will be liable for department proceedings and amount to contempt of court for not complying with its direction.
It said, “Authorising detention without recording reasons as aforesaid by the judicial magistrate concerned shall be liable for departmental action by the appropriate High Court.”
“Our endeavour in this judgement is to ensure that police officers do not arrest accused unnecessarily and magistrate do not authorise detention casually and mechanically,” it said.
