RAS question
Article 22 of the Constitution provides safeguards against arrest and detention. Which of the following is correct?
Correct answer: (D) A person arrested must be produced before the nearest magistrate within 24 hours.
Under Article 22(2), every arrested person must be produced before the nearest magistrate within 24 hours of arrest, excluding the time needed for the journey from the place of arrest to the magistrate's court.
Explanation
Article 22 is a core personal-liberty safeguard in Part III. Clause (1) protects an arrested person by requiring that the grounds of arrest be communicated and by recognising the right to consult, and be defended by, a legal practitioner of the person's choice. Clause (2) then adds the immediate judicial check: the arrested person must be produced before the nearest magistrate within 24 hours of arrest, with travel time excluded. The Constitution also says custody cannot continue beyond that period without a magistrate's authority. The source further separates ordinary arrest safeguards from preventive detention, because clauses (1) and (2) do not apply to persons arrested or detained under a preventive-detention law.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Article 22(1) expressly recognises the arrested person's right to consult and be defended by a legal practitioner of the person's choice.
- (B) Article 22(7) refers to Parliament prescribing matters for preventive detention by law, so it is not correct to say Parliament cannot make such laws.
- (C) Article 22 does not permit unlimited preventive detention, because it refers to limits such as detention beyond three months and a maximum period prescribed by law.
Concept
This tests Fundamental Rights under Article 22, especially the difference between safeguards for ordinary arrest and the separate constitutional treatment of preventive detention. It recurs in RAS because arrest, detention, magistrate production, and legal counsel are standard policing-and-liberty issues in Indian Polity.