'Magistrate had hypertechnical view in calling producer's arrest illegal'

A sessions court has said the trial court ought not to have taken a hypertechnical view in giving relief to rapeaccused film producer Gunwant Jain over when he was informed about the grounds of his arrest reported news agency PTIJain accused of allegedly raping a 38yearmodel was arrested on November 21 The following day the police produced him before a magistrate court in suburban Andheri and sought his remand for five days reported PTIHowever the magistrate ordered Jains immediate release holding that he was informed about the grounds of his arrest after 4 minutes of being taken into custody which he said violated the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita BNSSThe reprieve to Jain prompted the police to file a revision application before the sessions court DindoshiAdditional Sessions Judge Dindoshi Court D G Dhoble on December 24 allowed the revision application and directed the film producer to surrender before the police station Versova concerned reported PTIThe court allowed the investigating officer to arrest Jain if he failed to turn in himself before the policeAfter the setback at the trial court police had submitted before the sessions court that the magistrates order was contrary to law and prejudicial to the investigation Police also contended that Jains arrest was lawful and in compliance with BNSS reported PTIThe accused through his lawyer argued that the arrest itself was illegal due to noncompliance with mandatory procedural safeguards under BNSSThe accused was neither informed of the grounds of arrest in detail nor were his family members notified at the time of his arrest at 2256 hours on November 21 Jains lawyer said They were informed of the grounds of arrest at about 2300 hours the defence submittedThe sessions court said there was no dispute that the grounds of arrest were communicated to the film producer and it was only about the timeThe law mandates grounds of arrest to be informed forthwith The meaning of forthwith is nowhere defined but in my view it must be within a reasonable time under the circumstances as per legal meaning the additional sessions judge observed reported PTIThe mere fact that at the bottom of the document showing the grounds of arrest the accused and his friend noted the time as 2300 hours cannot lead to the conclusion that it was communicated to him only after his arrest the judge saidThis discrepancy in the recorded time appears to be a lapse of time while typing grounds of arrest under the circumstances No prejudice shown to have been caused to the accused due to this discrepancy the court said reported PTIThe sessions judge said that the trial court magistrate misinterpreted the word forthwith and therefore it cannot be said that there was no compliance with the provisions of BNSSThe magistrate in the impugned order took an overly hypertechnical view to hold that the arrest was illegal Such a view is neither sustainable in law nor supported by the record the judge said in the order reported PTIThe sessions court cautioned that the trial court ought not to have taken a hypertechnical view and said it failed to balance procedural compliance with the need for investigation reported PTIThe producer is accused of sexually assaulting the model after falsely giving the assurance of marriage He had administered a sedative before committing the offence and threatened her police have claimedWith inputs from PTI