In Jaskaran Jeet Singh Deol v. State of Punjab, 2026 INSC 1022, the Supreme Court considered whether an accused, whose earlier arrest had been rendered illegal for violation of Articles 22(1) and 22(2) of the Constitution, could thereafter be re-arrested in the same case. The Court reiterated that furnishing the grounds of arrest in writing is a mandatory constitutional safeguard and that failure to produce an arrested person before the Magistrate within 24 hours, excluding permissible travel time, renders the continued detention unconstitutional.
The Court held that although such violation does not create a permanent immunity from arrest, re-arrest cannot be left to the discretion of the very investigating agency which committed the constitutional breach. If custodial interrogation is still considered necessary, the investigating agency must first furnish the written grounds of arrest and thereafter move the jurisdictional Magistrate explaining the reasons and necessity for re-arrest, together with an explanation for the earlier non-compliance. Such an application must also carry the endorsement of the immediate superior authority and must be decided by the Magistrate in accordance with principles of natural justice.
The Supreme Court emphasised that re-arrest following a violation of Article 22 requires judicial imprimatur. It further directed that, on the administrative side, the investigation should be entrusted to another officer and departmental proceedings should follow against the officer responsible for the constitutional violation. The same safeguards were held applicable where the breach concerns Article 22(2), i.e., failure to produce the accused before the Magistrate within the constitutionally mandated period.
