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Happy 2018 to all forum members. May this new year brings loads of peace, prosperity and happiness in your lives.
I was going through my textbooks today and my eyes chanced upon a particular topic which reminded me of Avni's condition. It's about the rights of a detained person, a person who is arrested and kept in the jail.
As you all know, the Indian Constitution ensures our safety in the country by providing us with some rights which cannot be denied by courts of law. One such right is the rights of a detained person.
According to this, even the accused have some rights which no police officer can deny. The rights are as follows:-
1) Right to know the grounds of arrest - according to Section 50(1) Cr.P.C, every police officer or other person arresting any person without warrant shall forthwith communicate to him full particulars of the offence for which he is arrested or other grounds for such arrest.
We have seen that Avni is kept in dark, is unaware why actually Neil put her behind the bars. And this goes against the very basic right ensured to the convict in our Constitution.
2) Right to be taken to a Magistrate without delay- according to Section:-
56. Person arrested to be taken before Magistrate or officer in charge of police station- A police officer making an arrest without warrant shall, without unnecessary delay and subject to the provisions herein contained as to bail, take or send the person arrested before a Magistrate having jurisdiction in the case, or before the officer in charge of a police station.
76. Person arrested to be brought before Court without delay- The police officer or other person executing a warrant of arrest shall (subject to the provisions of section 71 as to security) without unnecessary delay bring the person arrested before the Court before which he is required by law to produce such person.
I don't think Neil, a police officer has taken Avni, a convict, to the judiciary (I hope I turn out to be wrong, I honestly want to be proved). So again, contradicting the rights in our Constitution.
3) Right to consult a Legal practitioner-
Article 22(1) of the Constitution provides that no person who is arrested shall be denied the right to consult a legal practitioner of his choice. Further, as has been held by the Supreme Court that state is under a constitutional mandate (implicit in article 21) to provide free legal aid to an indigent accused person, and the constitutional obligation to provide free legal aid does not arise only when the trial commences but also attaches when the accused is for the first time produced before the magistrate, as also when remanded from time to time. It has been held by the Supreme Court that non- compliance with this requirement and failure to inform the accused of this right would vitiate the trial. Section 50(3) also provides that any person against whom proceedings are instituted under the code may of right be defended by a pleader of his choice. The right of an arrested person to consult his lawyer begins from the moment of his arrest. The consultation with the lawyer may be in the presence of police officer but not within his hearing.I need not tell, I guess.
4) Right of the accused to produce an evidence-
The accused even has right to produce witness in his defence in case of police report or private defence. After the Examination and cross examination of all prosecution witness i.e. after the completion of the prosecution case the accused shall be called upon to enter upon his defence and any written statement put in shall be filled with the record. He may even call further for cross examination. The judge shall go on recording the evidence of prosecution witness till the prosecution closes its evidence.When in the course of investigation an accused or any other person desiring to make any statement is brought to a magistrate so that any confession or statement that he may be deposed to make of his free will is record. Confession statements by accused to the police are absolutely excluded under Section 25, Evidence Act.
Here, I just wanted to throw a light on all the rights a convict has, and the ones which Avni is denied to access. By no means, I wanted to hurt anyone through this post of mine. If anyone is, I'm extremely sorry. I'm a fan of NK, but the way the plot is being taken further didn't sit with me well. I haven't wished to offend anybody over here,, I'm extremely apologetic if I did so.
Taking leave.
Nivedita
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