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The State of Maharashtra & Ors. v. Tasneem Rizwan Siddiquee

Criminal Appeal · 2018 INSC 783Decided 5 Sept 2018
Criminal Appeal No. 1124 of 2018
Chief Justice Dipak Misra · Justice A.M. Khanwilkar · Dr. Justice D.Y. Chandrachud

Background

During a police investigation into illegal sale of call-detail records, the respondent's husband, Rizwan Alam Siddique, was found to be destroying evidence on his phone and laptop and was arrested; a Magistrate granted the police his custody until 23 March 2018. His wife filed a habeas corpus petition in the Bombay High Court without challenging the Magistrate's remand order itself. The High Court found the police had not properly complied with arrest procedure, ordered his immediate release, and additionally made sharp critical remarks against the investigating police officers, directing disciplinary and even criminal proceedings against them, without giving the officers a chance to explain themselves.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that a writ of habeas corpus cannot be issued for a person held in police custody under a valid, subsisting judicial remand order, since that order had not itself been challenged, the detention was not "illegal" in the sense required for habeas corpus, and the High Court should not have gone into the merits of the arrest at all. Relying on its own precedent deprecating harsh, one-sided remarks against investigating officers without hearing them, the Court expunged the High Court's scathing observations against the police. The appeal was allowed, though since the husband had already been released, the Court clarified that police could still proceed against him lawfully in connection with the case, without expressing any opinion on his guilt.

Lesson Learnt

Habeas corpus is the wrong remedy to challenge custody that stems from a valid court-ordered remand: the proper course is to challenge that remand order itself; and courts should not make severe adverse findings against investigating officers without first giving them a chance to be heard.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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