Illegal detention during police transit counts as arrest-related custody when constitutional safeguards are bypassed, the Court held.

Where police remove a person from his residence for the purpose of arrest and take him to the police station without formally arresting him at the outset, the custody counts as constitutional detention and cannot be recast as voluntary transit to avoid the safeguards of Articles 21 and 22. The High Court held that the petitioner's liberty was curtailed from the time he was taken from home, that the arrest-related procedure was breached, and that the detention was illegal and unconstitutional. Compensation, costs, and directions for inquiry and action against erring officials were awarded.

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Issues: Whether the petitioner was illegally detained from 6.30 a.m. on 11.09.2014 till 3.00 p.m. on 12.09.2014 in violation of Articles 21 and 22 of the Constitution of India, and whether compensation and consequential directions were warranted.

Analysis: The material on record showed that the police party was sent to the petitioner's residence with the object of effecting his arrest, but he was not formally arrested at the place from which he was taken. He was then carried to the police station and later produced before the Magistrate only on the next day. The Court held that the device of treating the transit as voluntary could not defeat the constitutional mandate. Since the petitioner's liberty was curtailed from the time he was taken from his house, the detention exceeded the permissible limit and offended the safeguards against arbitrary arrest and detention. The Court also found breach of the procedure contemplated in arrest-related safeguards.

Conclusion: The detention was illegal and unconstitutional. The petition was allowed, compensation and costs were awarded, and directions were issued for inquiry and action against the erring officials.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a police party removes a person from his residence for the purpose of arrest and takes him to the police station without formally arresting him at the inception, the period of such custody counts as detention for constitutional purposes and cannot be treated as voluntary transit to avoid the safeguards of Articles 21 and 22 of the Constitution of India.

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