RAMESH TEKWANI (TRADING BUSINESS) 11 April 2009

RIGHTS of AN ACCUSED

What are the rights of an accused under IPC???

can the accused refuse to make a statement to the police unless he has been given the opportunity to consult his lawyer before he is produced before a magistrate????
does he have his right to say nothing before the trial begins and let police/prosecute prove that he is guilty???
if he makes no statement to the police during the case investigation, can he get bail from the court in reasonable time since police does not have adequate proof his involvement?? Can the police ask for repeated custody on the ground that since accused is not making any statement, they are not able to get adequate evidence and therefore ask for further remand??
can he make a statement before the magistrate when produced before him clarifying his position?? Will this statement be binding on him later in the trial?? or it is better he consults a lawyer and then make a statement to the police??/

can he insist on written statement in his own hand/language rather than let police write his statement in local language that is not his mother tongue and may not be written accurately by the biased police and then take his signature?? Can he deny subsequently in the court that he made some statement as it was written in local language that he did not understand???

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3 Replies

N.K.Assumi (Advocate) 12 April 2009

1. Clause (1) Article 22 of the Coinstitution declares " No person who is arrested shall be detained in custody without being informed, as soon as may be, of the grounds for such arrest nor shall he be denied the right to consult and to be defended by a legal practitioner.

Clause (2) Arrested person to be produced before the Magistrate within 24 hours excluding the time necessary ffor the journey from the place of to the court.

2.Clause (3) Article 20 of the Constitution seclares " No person accused of an Offence shall be compelled to be a witness against himself" The Constitution gives him the right to keep silence during police interrogation.

3.Exercise of right to keep silence does not amount to Guilt as it ias subject to trial according to Law in the competent Court.

4.Accused does not have the right to write his own statements before the police rather he is prohibited even to sign his statements recorded by the Police under section 162 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

5. Any statements made before the Court will go down in records and will be used against him.

6. Regarding bail it depends whether it is bailable offence or non-bailable offence:if it is bailable it is a right of the accused provided he is ready to furnish bond, if it is non bailable it is shfted from right to discreation of the Court, which however should be sound discreation, according to the circumstances of the Case.

7.Police asking remand of the accused in custody is just a daily routine manner and Court should not mechanically grant remand of the accused in police custody as prayed by the Police, this is clarified from the Judgment of Harsh Sawhney case: 1978-CAR-0147-SC:CORAM: V.R.Krishna Iyer,Jaswant Singh,R.S.Pathak.

Details of your query will be found in the case of D.K.Basu vs The State of West Bengal: 1997 (1) SCC 416.CORAM: Kuldip Singh and A.S.Anand.

However, it is experience that all the direcrtions of the court as well as the constitutional provisions are follwed in breach rather than fulfilling the same by the police.

N.K.Assumi (Advocate) 12 April 2009

Accused should also see the name and the rank of the police officer, which are pasted on their shoulder and the name of the police officer tag on his chest.

N.K.Assumi (Advocate) 12 April 2009

If in your locality there is no advocate, and If bail is refused by the Police, you can write bail application in your own hand and signed it and put up to the Court for your bail, or you can verbally argue your bail before the Magistrate at the time of your production before the Court.