TMI Blog1967 (6) TMI 43X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tention was passed under the provisions of section 344 Criminal Procedure Code It appears that during the coul sc of investigation the police came to the conclusion that besides the offence under section 364 Indian Penal Code the accused-respondent was also involved in the offence punishable under section 302 Indian Penal Code read with section 201, Indian Penal Code for having caused the death of Hima Ram and for concealment or destruction of the evidence disclosing the commission of the offence of murder by him. The police therefore felt that the association of the accused-respondent with the police for further investigation had become necessary with a view to discover the concealment of the dead body which is 'corpus delicti in the c ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s was followed by another application on 27th January, 1967 wherein it was stated that the accused-respondent had previously been arrested in the course of investigation of an offence under section 364 Indian Penal Code and had on the expiry of the period of remand been sent to the judicial lock-up. Thereafter a case under sections 302/201/34 Indian Penal Code had been made out against the accused-respondent and therefore it was prayed that the police be permitted to make a formal arrest of the accused in the Court room and thereafter he may be remanded to police custody for 15 days. Learned Magistrate's order on the first application made by the police was that the facts placed before him were not sufficient to enable him to accede ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... different charges in the same case. I do not think it is permissible to draw the distinction that the learned counsel for the respondent seeks to do. The scheme embodied in the Code of Criminal Procedure with regard to the custody and detentention of persons accused of cognizable offences appears to be this ; the first stage is detention of the accused for a period of 24 hours ; during this period the police have absolute discretion to detain the person anywhere they like during investigation. If the investigation cannot be completed within 24 hours, the accused must be forwarded to the nearest Magistrate (See section 167(1). The second stage consists of detention for a total period of 15 days ; the Magistrate to whom the accused has ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... section 344, he may be found to be implicated in another case or as a result of the investigation already carried on by the police and the evidence collected by them he may be found to be implicated in a more serious offence than the one for which he was originally arrested. The investigation in both the cases is an investigation into crime which the police alone are authorised to carry out. The Magistrate's function is only to enquire into and try the offence after the police have completed their investigation and submitted a charge sheet against the accused. He cannot however hamper the police investigation by refusing to allow the police to perform their duties. The only object of restricting the power of the police to detain the ac ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... r the offence under sections 302/201/34 LP.C. and this is not possible so long as the accused is already under detention in magisterial custody. I see no insuperable difficulty in the way of the police arresting the accused for the second time for the offence for which he is now wanted by them. The accused being already in magisterial custody it is open to the learned magistrate under section 167(2) to take the accused out of Jail or Judicial custody and hand him over to the police for the maximum period of 15 days provided in that section. All that he is required to do is to satisfy himself that a good case is made out for detaining the accused in police custody in connection with investigation of the case. It may be that the offences f ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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