24-Hour Custody Clock Starts When Liberty Is Curtailed, Not On Paper Arrest: Karnataka High Court

The Karnataka High Court has held that the 24-hour period for producing an arrested person before a magistrate runs from the moment liberty is curtailed. Justice S Vishwajit Shetty laid down that position while granting bail to Naveen, accused after the death of his wife. His continued custody was illegal, the bench said, and the arrest stood vitiated.

Article 22(2) of the Constitution mandates that an arrested and detained person be produced before the nearest magistrate within 24 hours of arrest, excluding the time taken for the journey from the place of arrest to the court. The safeguard under article 22 of constitution carries two exceptions under Article 22(3) for arrests involving enemy aliens and arrests made under laws providing for preventive detention.

Naveen, a resident of Masuvalli village in Hassan, surrendered before Aldur police in Chikkamagaluru district at 11 am on October 14, 2025. The surrender followed a complaint by his mother-in-law Shubha after the death of her daughter Nethravathi a couple of days earlier. Shubha accused Naveen and two others of offences under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Dowry Prohibition Act.

Surrender at 11 AM, arrest at 9.45 PM

Police recorded Naveen's arrest only at 9.45 pm on the day he surrendered. The bench examined the case diary to trace what happened between the morning surrender and the night entry. The diary contained no explanation for why he was not interrogated immediately after he presented himself at the station.

It also gave no reason for waiting until late night to show him as arrested. Counted from detention rather than the paper entry, he had not been placed before a magistrate within 24 hours. That failure made the detention illegal, the judge said.

The order came on a bail petition filed after the trial court had rejected Naveen's plea for release on April 9, 2026. The High Court allowed the petition and granted him bail.