The Madras High Court on Monday (September 7, 2026) directed the Director General of Police (DGP) and the Greater Chennai Commissioner of Police (GCCP) to ensure their subordinates issue the grounds of arrest at least two hours before producing the individuals concerned for judicial remand so that the suspects do not end up getting enlarged on bail even in heinous offences.
Justice N. Ramesh made it clear that the arrest memo or intimation of an individual’s arrest to his family members could not be substituted for the grounds of arrest, which should be a separate document explaining the reasons for the arrest. He ordered that an acknowledgement of having furnished the grounds of arrest must be produced before the magistrate during remand proceedings.
The judge issued the directions while granting bail to two accused, M. Akash Hussain of Tripura, booked by the Prohibition and Enforcement Wing at St. Thomas Mount Police Station in Chennai under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act of 1985, and Ankur Kumar Jain, booked by the Economic Offences Wing in Chennai, on the ground that they had not been served with the grounds of arrest.
During the course of hearing of the first bail petition, the judge found that the Deputy Commissioner of Police, St. Thomas Mount, had filed a report before the court, which revealed that the grounds of arrest had not been served in one out of every four criminal cases, which could lead to suspects escaping the clutches of law on the mere technicality of not having been served with the mandatory document.
SC on grounds of arrest
Justice Ramesh recalled that the Supreme Court, in Mihir Rajesh Shah versus State of Maharashtra on November 6, 2025, made it abundantly clear that the constitutional mandate of informing the arrestee of the grounds of arrest was mandatory in all criminal offences and that such grounds of arrest must be communicated in writing to the arrestee in the language he/she understands.
The Supreme Court had also ordered that the grounds of arrest must be communicated in writing within a reasonable time and in any case at least two hours prior to the production of the arrestee for remand proceedings before the magistrate, and that non-compliance with the mandate could lead to the arrest and the subsequent remand being rendered illegal and the suspect being set free.
“Despite such categorical directions of the Supreme Court, it is a sad state of affairs that numerous bail petitions are being filed before this court even in heinous criminal cases complaining that the grounds of arrest were not served on them,” the judge told a government counsel while issuing directions to the DGP and the GCCP to ensure that all investigating officers follow the top court’s dictum in letter and spirit.
