Rhea Chakraborty remanded to judicial custody: All you need to know

Image: Instagram/rhea_chakraborty

Bollywood actor Rhea Chakraborty was arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on September 8 under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985 in connection with the Sushant Singh Rajput death case. Her bail plea was rejected by a Mumbai court, and she was remanded to 14-day judicial custody.

What is the meaning of judicial custody? When a person accused of a cognisable offence is arrested and detained by the police and produced before a magistrate, he or she can either be released on bail or be sent to judicial or police custody. Till the time a person is remanded in custody -- judicial or police – they are considered suspects and not convicted criminals.

In case of judicial custody, the accused is kept in the custody of the concerned magistrate. If a person is remanded to judicial custody, he or she is kept in a jail but cannot be interrogated by the police without permission.

How is it different from police custody? When police arrest a person suspected of involvement in a crime, they detain such persons to prevent them from committing another offence. Such a person is kept in police lockup for 24 hours before he or she is produced before a magistrate. In those 24 hours, police can interrogate the suspect at will. Technically, police custody translates to the police having physical custody of a suspect, whereas in judicial custody, the respective magistrate is handed over the custody of the suspect.

Moreover, after arrest, all suspects are first kept in police custody for 24 hours, following which they are produced before a magistrate who decides if the accused person should be sent back to police custody or should be remanded to judicial custody.

A person can be in police custody for a maximum of 15 days and an executive magistrate can order the extension of this period by another seven days. However, if a person is in judicial custody, this period can be extended up to 90 days if the crime the person in indicted for involves the death sentence or life term.

Is keeping someone in custody same as arresting them? Section 167 of the Code of Criminal Procedure allows investigating officers to keep a suspect in their custody for the purpose of interrogation. Arresting someone involves the physical act of bringing a person to a police station if they turn out to be a suspect in a case that has been registered or if the police have received information about a crime that may involve them. In every arrest there is a custody, but the vice versa is not true. The Constitution of India allows all arrested persons to know the grounds of the arrest, inform someone of their arrest or detention, and also have the right to bail.