Decongest Prisons: Guidelines for arrest laid down by Supreme Court.
Owing to the pandemic, the Supreme Court directed authorities to refrain from causally and mechanically detaining people who violated the law. Some of these guidelines have been reproduced below-
“All the State Governments to instruct its police officers not to automatically arrest when a case under Section 498A IPC is registered but to satisfy themselves about the necessity for arrest under the parameters laid down above flowing from Section 41 CrPC;
The Magistrate while authorising detention of the accused shall peruse the report furnished by the police officer in terms aforesaid and only after recording its satisfaction, the Magistrate will authorise detention;
We hasten to add that the directions aforesaid shall not only apply to the cases under Section 498A IPC or Section 4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act, the case in hand, but also such cases where offence is punishable with imprisonment for a term which may be less than seven years or which may extend to seven years, whether with or without fine. “
