Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court on Monday (March 6) sent former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia to judicial custody till March 20 in connection with a corruption case related to alleged irregularities in the now-scrapped excise policy. Sisodia was arrested on February 26 and has been in the custody of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) since then. According to the Bar and Bench, the court said, “An application to send the accused to judicial custody has been filed. It is submitted that the police custody is no longer required and the same may be sought later, if required. In view of submission made, the accused is sent to judicial custody till March 20”. What is custody? Although undefined in Indian law, “custody” refers to the state of being kept by the police while awaiting trial. Section 57 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) says that any person arrested without a warrant cannot be detained for more than 24 hours unless there is a special order of a Magistrate under section 167 to that effect. However, Section 167 says that if an investigation cannot be completed within 24 hours, the detainee can still be kept in custody when there are “well-founded grounds” for believing the accusations against him. The process for this requires a police officer, not below the rank of sub-inspector, to transfer a copy of the diary entry in a detainee’s case to the Judicial Magistrate, who will decide whether he can authorize the accused’s detention for a period of 15 days or forward it another magistrate who has jurisdiction to try the case. The general rule is that judicial custody can extend up to 90 days in cases punishable by death, life imprisonment, or imprisonment for 10 years or more. Section 167 of the Code talks about custody during the stage of the investigation. Custody can either be judicial custody or police custody. What is judicial custody? Judicial custody means that the person detained by a judicial magistrate is lodged in central or state prison. In some cases, investigation agencies may not seek police custody immediately and one of the reasons can be the judicious use of the maximum of 15 days at their disposal. In some cases, courts may directly remand a person to judicial custody, if the court concludes that there is no need for police custody or extension of police custody. The judicial custody can extend up to 60 or 90 days as a whole, depending upon the maximum punishment prescribed for the offense. According to Section 436A of CrPC, a person in judicial custody, who has served half the maximum punishment that can be given for an offense, can apply for default bail, if their trial is pending. How is judicial custody different from police custody? Police custody refers to when a person is detained in a police station or lock-up when he is believed to have committed a crime. However, unlike judicial custody, police custody requires the accused to be furnished before the magistrate in 24 hours. Apart from differing in the purview and place of detention, there are some distinctions between the two forms of custody. In police custody, the investigating authority can interrogate a person while in judicial custody, officials need the permission of the court for questioning. In police custody, the person has the right to legal counsel, and the right to be informed of the grounds which the police have to ensure. In judicial custody, the person is under the responsibility of the magistrate, while the Prison Manual comes into the picture for the routine conduct of the person.
