Without granting any relief to Mihir Shah, the man who rammed his BMW into a scooter killing a woman in Mumbai’s Worli area last year, the Supreme Court, while upholding fundamental freedoms, said it was mandatory for all police and investigative agencies to provide the reasons for arrest in writing to every arrested person in every case and without exception.
A bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI), BR Gavai and AG Masih, has definitively held that failure to do so was a violation of constitutional guarantees, which vitiated the arrest and continued detention or remand of the accused.
Mihir Shah had approached the top court challenging the legality of his arrest. According to him, he was not told the reasons for the arrest. Despite recognizing this procedural error, the Bombay High Court upheld the validity of the arrest due to Shah’s conscious awareness of the seriousness of the crime, supported by substantial evidence and his evasion of arrest, thereby justifying the detention despite the lack of written grounds.
Mihir Shah, through advocate Jay K Bharadwaj, had approached the Supreme Court, challenging the order of the Bombay High Court, arguing that the grounds for arrest, as imposed under Section 47 of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, had not been communicated to him in writing.
The Supreme Court ruling, which stems from appeals on the interpretation of Article 22(1) of the Constitution and Article 47 of the BNSS, 2023, establishes the right to be informed in writing as a fundamental constitutional requirement. The court clarified that the mandate applies universally to offenses under the BNZ 2023 (formerly IPC) and to offenses under special statutes.
Crucially, the court noted that merely reading out the grounds for arrest was inadequate and open to factual disputes between the suspect and the police. It underscored that a person who has just been arrested may not be in the mood to remember the contents, rendering the constitutional protections “meaningless.”
Therefore, the method of communication must be in writing and in a language that the detainee understands, the court said.
The court also determined that these written grounds must be provided before the pre-trial detention hearing. To ensure compliance, the arresting officer is now required to ensure that the date and time the written grounds are submitted are accurately documented, and the magistrate must ensure this compliance before authorizing further detention.
The ruling effectively strengthens the right to personal freedom, giving the suspect an immediate opportunity to seek legal advice and oppose his detention.
Mihir Shah, son of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Rajesh Shah, Eknath Shinde’s party leader, is still behind bars while his bail plea was rejected by the court and will be heard by the Bombay High Court next week.
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