SC States That Taking Custody of Accused Is for The Investigating Agency to Decide; Is Beyond the High Court Jurisdiction

What is the issue

• The Supreme Court has recently observed that the direction to take the accused into custody is beyond the jurisdiction of the High Court, it is for Investigating Agency to decide whether to arrest a person or not.
• The Supreme Court was considering a special leave petition against a May 24 order of the Karnataka High Court quashing the anticipatory bail granted by the Additional District and Sessions Judge of Mangaluru to the petitioner who was a police officer who was charged under sections 376 (rape) and 323 (hurt)of IPC.
• Further, by the impugned order, the High Court had transferred the investigations to the Corps of Detectives and the Investigation Agency was directed to submit a final report within four months from the date of the order. Also, the High Court had directed the District Superintendent of Police to initiate action against named police personnel for being in close association with the petitioner and for the lapses on their part.
• The High Court of Karnataka had directed the Investigating Officer to take the petitioner into custody and produce him before the concerned jurisdictional Court.

Observations of the Court

• The bench of Justices Hemant Gupta and V Ramasubramanium said such direction to take the accused into custody was beyond the jurisdiction of the High Court.
• The bench stated that whether an accused is liable to be arrested is based upon the decision of the Investigating Officer depending upon the material collected during the investigation which may be conducted in a particular crime. It is for the Investigation Agency to decide when the petitioner is to be arrested.
• The Supreme Court was ruling on an appeal against the high court order canceling anticipatory bail granted to the petitioner for the offences under Section 323 (Punishment for voluntarily causing hurt.) and Section 376 (Punishment for rape.) of the Indian Penal Code.
• The apex court disposed of the appeal quashing the direction of the high court to arrest the accused while leaving the rest of the order intact. It clarified that the decision lies on the Investigating Officer to make the call as to when the petitioner is to be arrested or not.

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