Magistrate's bail and remand powers apply after Customs arrest under the Code when the special statute is silent.

Where a person arrested by Customs under Section 104 of the Customs Act is produced before a Magistrate, the Code's bail provisions apply because the special statute is silent on the Magistrate's powers after production. Reading Sections 4(2), 436 and 437 of the Code together, the Magistrate may consider bail, impose permissible conditions, refuse bail, and, if bail is not granted, remand the person to judicial custody. The contrary view was rejected because it would make Section 104 ineffective and purposeless. The possible application of Section 167 was noted but left open.

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Issues: Whether a Magistrate before whom a person arrested by a Customs Officer under Section 104 of the Customs Act, 1962 is produced has power, under the Code of Criminal Procedure, to grant bail, refuse bail, or remand the person to judicial custody.

Analysis: Section 104 of the Customs Act empowers Customs Officers to arrest a person reasonably believed to have committed an offence punishable under Section 135 and requires production before a Magistrate without unnecessary delay, but it does not itself prescribe how the Magistrate is to deal with the arrested person. The Court held that Section 4(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure attracts the bail provisions in Chapter XXXIII to offences under the Customs Act, because the Customs Act contains no contrary provision governing bail before the Court. Reading Sections 436 and 437 together, the Magistrate before whom such a person is produced has authority to consider bail, impose conditions where permissible, refuse bail, and, where bail is not granted or is refused, commit the person to judicial custody. The Court treated the opposite view as rendering Section 104 ineffective and purposeless. The argument based on Section 167 was noticed but was left open.

Conclusion: The Magistrate has the power to grant or refuse bail and to remand a person arrested by Customs under Section 104 to judicial custody; the contrary view was rejected.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a special statute authorises arrest and production before a Magistrate but is silent on the Magistrate's powers thereafter, the general bail provisions of the Code apply by virtue of Section 4(2), and the Magistrate may grant bail, refuse bail, or remand the person to judicial custody.

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