Kochi, October 23 — The Kerala High Court on Friday set aside the State Government's guidelines that preferred the production of arrested persons before judicial officers between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. and treated production after 5 p.m. as permissible only in exceptional circumstances. A Division Bench of Justice Raja Vijayaraghavan V and Justice K.V. Jayakumar allowed a public interest litigation challenging the guidelines, in a ruling reported as 2026 LiveLaw (Ker) 599.
Source: Live Law
The guidelines, first issued by a government order dated September 21, 2023, laid down the protocol for producing an accused before medical practitioners and judicial officers. Clause 18 said an accused should, as far as possible, be produced during working hours, between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m., while Clause 19 required prior intimation by a superior officer, and the investigating officer's presence, for production after 5 p.m. The guidelines were modified by an order dated September 24, 2026, which kept the 10-to-5 preference while stressing the 24-hour limit and dropping the investigating officer's mandatory presence.
What the court held
"An executive protocol cannot dilute the safeguards guaranteed by the Constitution and the governing statute, whether directly or through procedural arrangements that have the effect of discouraging compliance with them," the Bench observed, adding that measures for the safety of judicial officers must operate consistently with the duty to produce an arrested person without unnecessary delay and the constitutional protection of personal liberty.
The court rejected the argument that staying within the 24-hour outer limit was enough. It held that Article 22(2) of the Constitution and Section 58 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (BNSS) do not give investigating agencies a general entitlement to defer production until that period is about to expire, citing the Supreme Court decisions in Sheela Barse v. State of Maharashtra and Joginder Kumar v. State of Uttar Pradesh on legal assistance and judicial scrutiny at the remand stage.
Why the timing rule mattered in practice
Illustrating the practical effect, the Bench noted that a person arrested at or after 5 p.m. might not be produced until the next morning if the officer hesitated over the 'exceptional circumstances' requirement — delaying the accused's chance to get legal help, challenge the arrest and oppose remand. It also noted the opposite risk: an accused arrested around 4:30 p.m. who makes a disclosure leading to a weapon or stolen property might be produced hurriedly before 5 p.m., compromising time-sensitive recovery steps.
Source: Mirror Now
The court set aside the modified guidelines to the extent that they stipulated the 10 a.m.–5 p.m. preference and allowed after-5 p.m. production only in exceptional circumstances. It expressly upheld the requirement of prior intimation to the concerned magistrate when an arrested person is produced after 5 p.m., and allowed the writ petition. Counsel T.K. Sandeep and Reshma Viswanathan appeared for the petitioner; Senior Government Pleader Laliza T.Y, Director General of Prosecution Asaf Ali and Special Government Pleader Rasheed C. Nooranad appeared for the State.