What is Judicial Custody?
Judicial Custody means the person will be kept in prison on the orders of the Magistrate. In other words, we can say that the accused is in the custody of the Magistrate. When the accused is presented before the Magistrate after that he can be sent to jail or can be sent back to police custody. In judicial custody, the suspect becomes the responsibility of the Court.
Laws governing Judicial Custody?
Once you have correctly understood the judicial custody meaning, it becomes imperative to gather deeper knowledge about the laws that govern such type of custody. Remember, When Police takes a person into custody, the Cr.P.C kicks-in and Accused has to be produced before a Magistrate within 24 hours of the arrest.
The suspect is assumed to be innocent till the charges against him are proved and only after that, the Court will punish him for the crime reported. As per Section 167 of The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 the suspect can be in police custody for 15 days, but only on the orders of the Magistrate. However, the person can be under judicial custody for upto 90 days when the person has committed an offence with a punishment of death, imprisonment of life or period of imprisonment exceeding 10 years and for upto 60 days for all other crimes, if the Magistrate thinks fit for the interest of the justice.
A Judicial Magistrate can give the order to extend the duration of any custody upto 15 days and an executive magistrate can extend it upto 7 days. You might ask the question what happens after 14 days judicial custody. The answer will be that on completion of the 15days remand at the judicial custody, the accused will be taken to court again. There a further extension of the remand period might be ordered by the Judge.
Wondering how long can a person be kept in judicial custody? If the police report is not filed within 60 or 90 days (as the case may be) then the person can be released on default bail. But if the police report is filed within the required time period then the accused won’t be released on default bail and thus will continue to be detained under judicial custody because after investigation the process of inquiry has started.
The maximum period on which a suspect can be under judicial custody is half of the punishment awarded for the concerned offence. When the accused is kept under police or judicial custody, it is important to keep in mind that they have some rights too. Many decisions have been taken by different Courts stating that the accused should not be treated badly. Different provisions of The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 and The Constitution of India provide the rights of the arrested person.
Why it is necessary?
Custody is often extended of people who are suspected of having committed a crime. Both judicial custody and police custody limit the liberty and range of movement of a person. The law and its agents (specifically, the police and the courts) employ a protective and preventive method by taking an individual who is suspected of a crime away from the general public. This allows law enforcement to properly investigate the accusation of a crime and have the suspect stand trial for the crimes accused to him.
In police custody, the police officer detains any offender or suspected person under his custody as an action taken by him, but in Judicial custody, the accused person is kept in jail upon the order of the concerned magistrate.
A person lodged in police custody has to appear before the concerned magistrate within 24 hours but the person detained in judicial custody is kept in jail until Court gives bail.
Police custody begins when a police officer arrests a suspect upon receiving a complaint or FIR. Whereas, the Judicial custody begins when the public prosecutor satisfies the court that for the purpose of the investigation, custody of such accused is necessary.
The maximum period of police custody is 24 hours and which may be extended to 15 days as a whole by the appropriate magistrate Whereas in Judicial custody the maximum period of detention is 90 days where the investigation is related to offenses punishable with death, imprisonment for life or imprisonment for a term not less than ten years and 60 days where the investigation is related to offenses punishable with imprisonment for a term less than 10 years.
Police custody is under the security provided by the police whereas in judicial custody the security is provided by the judge/magistrate. Life in judicial custody and police custody, both are difficult. But one can apply for a bail. Once it is granted they can fight the case by appearing before the court as and when required.
The Challenges:-
In serious offences, the court may accede to police request to remand the accused in judicial custody after the expiry of police custody so that evidence or witnesses are not tampered with. Law mandates filing of charge sheet in serious criminal cases within 90 days. If the charge sheet is not filed within 90 days, the court normally grants bail to the accused. But in heinous offences, like murder and rape, the accused is normally kept in judicial custody (kept in jail under the court’s custody) for a longer time despite filing of the charge sheet so that the process of trial is not influenced.
Conclusion:-
It is well settled by SC that jail is exception and bail is the rule but in cases of heinous offences, including money laundering cases, the court had held that custodial interrogation is needed to unearth the truth and held that any protection given to accused during the investigation would hamper the probe.
Case laws:-
In Central Bureau of Investigation, Special Investigation Cell-I, New Delhi v. Anupam J.Kulkarni (AIR 1992 SC 1768) the question regarding arrest & detention in custody was dealt with it was held that the Magistrate under S.167(2) can authorise the detention of the accused in such custody as he thinks fit but it should not exceed fifteen days in the whole. Therefore the custody initially should not exceed fifteen days in the whole. The custody can be police custody or judicial custody as the magistrate thinks fit. The words “such custody” and “for a term not exceeding fifteen days in whole” are very significant. On a combined reading of S.167(2) and (2A) it emerges that the Judicial Magistrate to whom the Executive Magistrate has forwarded the arrested accused can order detention in such custody namely police custody or judicial custody under S.167(2) for the rest of the first fifteen days after deducting the period of detention order by the Executive Magistrate. The detention thereafter could only be in judicial custody.
Understanding what is judicial custody is crucial for the individual who is impacted by the law. You can obviously gain deeper understanding of the intricate legal provisions by reading up on it. However, there are major intricacies and you should be best suited by taking legal counsel and visiting a competent and well trained advocate nearby for proper assistance.
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