The Supreme Court is examining a key issue in arrest jurisprudence: whether the grounds of arrest must be supplied in writing to an accused. The question arose in Meghalaya’s appeal against bail granted to Sonam Raghuvanshi, and the Court has संकेत that the matter may need to go to a larger Bench because different coordinate Benches have taken conflicting views.

This is not only about one bail order. The case goes to the core of Article 22 safeguards, the legality of arrest, and the standard of communication required from the police at the time of arrest. It is also relevant to criminal procedure under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the broader due process rights of an arrested person.

What happened in the case

The state challenged a June 29 order of the Meghalaya High Court, which had upheld a trial court’s decision to grant bail. The High Court found that the police had not properly communicated the grounds of arrest to the accused.

In the Supreme Court, the Bench framed the central legal question as whether written grounds of arrest are mandatory or not. Because there are conflicting precedents from different coordinate Benches, the Court suggested that the issue may have to be decided by a larger Bench.

The Court asked the Solicitor-General, appearing for the state, to file written submissions along with copies of the documents furnished to the accused. This was meant to help the Bench assess exactly what information was communicated at the time of arrest.

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