Effective detention starts the Article 22(2) clock for Magistrate production; delayed custody beyond that limit was illegal.

For Article 22(2), the twenty-four-hour period for producing an arrested person before the Magistrate runs from the moment of effective detention or curtailment of liberty, not from the later formal recording of arrest. Actual restraint or custody cannot be ignored by treating the arrest as unrecorded until paperwork is completed, because that would defeat constitutional safeguards. On the facts, the accused had been under police control before the recorded arrest, and the period of curtailed liberty had to be counted. Production before the Magistrate therefore occurred beyond the constitutionally permitted time, the detention was illegal, and bail was warranted.

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Issues: Whether the twenty-four hour period for producing an arrested person before the Magistrate commences from the formal recording of arrest or from the time when the person is effectively detained and his liberty is curtailed, and whether detention beyond that period vitiated the custody and entitled the accused to bail.

Analysis: Article 22(2) requires production before the nearest Magistrate within twenty-four hours of arrest, excluding journey time. The legal meaning of arrest is not confined to the formal entry made by the police; it includes actual restraint, custody, or effective deprivation of liberty. The distinction between informal custody and formal recording of arrest cannot be used to defeat constitutional safeguards. On the facts, the accused was under the control of the investigating officers from an earlier point of time than the recorded arrest, and the period of curtailed liberty had to be counted for the purpose of the twenty-four hour rule. The material placed before the Court showed an unrecorded period of custody and production beyond the constitutionally permissible period.

Conclusion: The twenty-four hour period begins when liberty is effectively curtailed, not when arrest is formally recorded. The accused's detention beyond that period was illegal, and bail was warranted.

Ratio Decidendi: For the purpose of Article 22(2), the clock for producing an accused before the Magistrate runs from the moment of effective detention or curtailment of liberty, and not from the later formal recording of arrest.

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