HC declines to entertain plea seeking development of standard procedure for arrests

A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Prateek Jalan said there was no need to compile all the judgments, by various courts, and office orders issued by the authorities into one single document and disposed of the petition.

"Enough lengthy procedure has been prescribed (with regard to arrests). Enough work has been done. We are not going to order summarising it all. At present, we are not entertaining the petition," the court said. It, however, gave the liberty to the petitioner financial economist Abhijit Mishra to approach the appropriate forum in any individual case of violation of the judgments or office orders.

Mishra, in his plea filed through advocate Payal Bahl, had also sought directions to the Centre, the Delhi government and the police to "make a comprehensive compensation policy and procedure for illegal detention and arrest" of any person. The plea had sought that on being arrested, a citizen should be provided all the documents related to his arrest, and his family or friends should also be informed about it by the police.

The plea also wanted that the Delhi Police should make the arrest guidelines available at each of its police stations along with contact details of legal aid lawyers. Besides that, the plea had sought directions to the Centre, the Delhi government and the police to ensure that before arresting a person, he should be informed about his rights under the Constitution and the Criminal Procedure Code.