Page 215 - ELT_1st September 2020_Vol 373_Part 5

2020 ] JET UNIPEX v. COMMISSIONER OF CUSTOMS, CHENNAI 653

(ii) Andaman Timber Industries v. CCE - (2016) 15 SCC 785 = 2015 (324)
E.L.T. 641 (S.C.) = 2017 (50) S.T.R. 93 (S.C.).
(iii) Shankaria v. State of Rajasthan - (1978) 3 SCC 435.
(iv) Kanungo and Co. - 1983 (13) E.L.T. 1456; and
(v) Mani Bhadras Trading Co v. CC - 2010 (251) E.L.T. 194.
22. Learned Senior Counsel submits that the Hon’ble Supreme Court in
D.K. Basu v. State of West Bengal and Ashok K. Johari v. State of U.P., (1997) 1 SCC
416 observed that there are several other government authorities like Directorate
of Revenue Intelligence, Directorate of Enforcement, Coastal Guard, Central Re-
serve Police Force (CRPF), Border Security Force (BSF), Central Industrial Securi-
ty Force (CISF), Traffic Police, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), CID etc.
who have been given power to detain a person and to interrogate him in connec-
tion with the investigation of economic offences under the provisions of the Es-
sential Commodities Act, Excise and Customs Act, Foreign Exchange Regulation
Act etc. and that there are incidence of torture and death also.
23. He submits that the Hon’ble Supreme Court therefore has issued
the following guidelines to the officers of the department in paragraph 35, which
read as follows :
“35. We, therefore, consider it appropriate to issue the following require-
ments to be followed in all cases of arrest or detention till legal provisions
are made in that behalf as preventive measures :
(1) The police personnel carrying out the arrest and handling the
interrogation of the arrestee should bear accurate, visible and clear
identification and name tags with their designations. The particu-
lars of all such police personnel who handle interrogation of the ar-
restee must be recorded in a register.
(2) That the police officer carrying out the arrest of the arrestee
shall prepare a memo of arrest at the time of arrest and such memo
shall be attested by at least one witness, who may either be a mem-
ber of the family of the arrestee or a respectable person of the locali-
ty from where the arrest is made. It shall also be countersigned by
the arrestee and shall contain the time and date of arrest.
(3) A person who has been arrested or detained and is being held
in custody in a police station or interrogation centre or other lock-
up, shall be entitled to have one friend or relative or other person
known to him or having interest in his welfare being informed, as
soon as practicable, that he has been arrested and is being detained
at the particular place, unless the attesting witness of the memo of
arrest is himself such a friend or a relative of the arrestee.
(4) The time, place of arrest and venue of custody of an arrestee
must be notified by the police where the next friend or relative of
the arrestee lives outside the district or town through the Legal Aid
Organisation in the District and the police station of the area con-
cerned telegraphically within a period of 8 to 12 hours after the
arrest.
(5) The person arrested must be made aware of this right to have
someone informed of his arrest or detention as soon as he is put
under arrest or is detained.
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