How long can the police keep me under arrest?

The police need to present you before the Magistrate as soon as possible after you have been arrested. They cannot keep you under arrest for more than 24 hours – this excludes travel time to the court. The police officer will also need to provide a copy of the entries in the case diary to the Magistrate. The case diary is a daily diary kept by an officer detailing all that happens in an investigation. The Supreme Court has directed the police officers to provide the Magistrate with a checklist of the reasons for your arrest along with all documents related to your arrest including the arrest memo.

After you’ve been presented before the Magistrate, the Magistrate can discharge you or grant you bail. Your lawyer should ask for your release if the police only needed to issue a ‘notice of appearance’ and not actually arrest you. The police can detain you beyond 24 hours only with permission of the Magistrate. They may seek ‘police custody’ or ‘judicial custody’. Police custody can only last 15 days from the date of arrest. This means you will be kept inside the lock-up at the police station for a maximum of fourteen more days.

If the police have not been able to file the charge-sheet and depending on the crime you have been suspected of, you can be in judicial custody for up to 90 days for crimes that you could possibly go to prison for more than 10 years, and up to 60 days for all other kinds of offences.

You cannot be sent to jail for more than fourteen days at a time even in judicial custody. You will be brought before the Magistrate after each fourteen day period. After the 60 or 90 day period, you have a right to be released on bail.