Produce accused before magistrate within 24 hours of custody: Supreme Court

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court clarified that an accused person must be produced before a magistrate within 24 hours of being taken into custody—not merely within 24 hours of the formal recording of the arrest.

When the accused is produced, the magistrate must record the date and time they were taken into custody to ensure that the 24-hour limit has been adhered to. Failure to do so renders the custody unlawful, as it violates provisions of the Constitution and the *Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita* (BNSS).

A bench comprising Justices Ujjal Bhuyan and Justice Atul S Chandurkar ordered that if an accused is produced under such circumstances, the magistrate must order their immediate release. This ruling was issued while granting bail to individuals accused in a drug trafficking case in Tripura, where the accused were produced before the magistrate with a delay of approximately 18 hours. The Court further clarified that an exception to this requirement applies only if the travel time from the place of arrest to the magistrate's court is exceptionally long.