Theme: Police & Courts

Refusal of Bail

For non-bailable offences the Court can refuse to grant you bail when the punishment for the crime you have committed has: 

  • Death penalty,
  • Prison for life,
  • Jail time of more than 7 years,
  • If the offence is cognizable, 
  • Been convicted previously on two or more occasions of a cognizable offence punishable with imprisonment of three years or more but not less than seven years.

 

Rights While Being Arrested

Upon being arrested you have certain rights, namely:

 

  • You can ask the police to identify themselves as they should bear accurate, visible and clear identification and name tags with their designations.
  • You can ask the police to call your lawyer. If you do not have a lawyer or cannot afford a lawyer, then you can ask the court to appoint a lawyer for you. 
  • You can ask the police to show the warrant for arrest, police report and other documents for your arrest and the police are required to show you this.
  • You should verify the accuracy of the memo of arrest prepared by the police before signing it. The memo of arrest should contain the date and time of arrest and should be attested by at least one witness.  
  • You should be informed about your eligibility for bail for the offence by the police.
  • You can ask to be examined for major and minor injuries on your body by a trained doctor and the police must comply. This examination has to be done every 48 hours if you are in their custody. This physical examination has to be recorded in the Inspection Memo and signed by the police officer. This is done to prevent violence by police while you are in their custody.
  • You should get a copy of the signed Inspection Memo.

Eligibility for Legal Aid

If you want legal aid, you will need to go to a legal service authority. Once you approach the authority, they will check:

 

  • Whether you are eligible for legal aid. 

You are eligible based on two criteria:  – either based on who you are or as per the income you get. You only need to qualify for one of these criterias to be eligible for receiving legal aid.

 

  • Genuine nature of your case

After checking whether you are eligible for legal aid, the authority will then check  if you have a genuine case to prosecute or to defend1. This discretion lies with the authorities and they will take the final call on whether your case itself requires legal aid. There is no bar as to which kind of cases you can apply and not apply for. 

 

However, if certain conditions are fulfilled, your legal aid may be withdrawn. 

 

Persons who can apply for legal aid

The following persons can apply for legal aid irrespective of their income:(( Section 12,  Legal Services Authority Act, 1987)) :

  • A member of the scheduled castes or tribes;
  • A victim of human trafficking or a beggar;
  • Any disabled person, including persons who are mentally disabled(( Section 7 (4) (c), Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016.));
  • A woman or child;
  • A victim of mass disaster, ethnic violence, caste atrocity, flood, drought, earthquake, industrial disaster and other cases of undeserved want;
  • An industrial workman;
  • Those in custody, including protective custody(( Section 2 (g), Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956.)), juvenile home(( The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015.)), psychiatric hospital or psychiatric nursing home;(( Section (g) of Section 2 of the Mental Health Act, 1987.))
  • Any person facing a charge which might result in imprisonment(( Khatri II Vs. State of Bihar, (1981) 1SCC.)) 

 

Maximum Income Earned

A person receiving an annual income less than the amount as mentioned below((  FAQs, National Legal Service Authority, https://nalsa.gov.in/faqs.)) can apply for legal aid within their own State:

State Income Ceiling Limit
Andhra Pradesh Rs. 3,00,000/- 
Arunachal Pradesh Rs. 1,00,000/-
Assam Rs. 3, 00, 000/-
Bihar Rs. 1,50,000/-
Chhattisgarh Rs. 1,50,000/-
Goa Rs.3,00,000/-
Gujarat Rs.1,00,000/-
Haryana Rs. 3,00,000/-
Himachal Pradesh Rs. 3,00,000/-
Jammu & Kashmir Rs. 1,00,000/-
Jharkhand Rs. 3,00,000
Karnataka Rs. 1,00,000
Kerala Rs. 300,000
Madhya Pradesh Rs. 1,00,000
Maharashtra Rs. 3,00,000
Manipur Rs. 3,00,000
Meghalaya Rs. 1,00,000
Mizoram Rs. 25,000
Nagaland Rs. 1,00,000
Odisha Rs.3,00,000
Punjab Rs. 3,00,000
Rajasthan Rs. 1,50,000
Sikkim Rs. 3,00,000
Telangana Rs.1,00,000
Tamil Nadu Rs. 3,00,000
Tripura Rs. 1,50,000            
Uttar Pradesh Rs. 1,00,000
Uttarakhand Rs. 3,00,000
West Bengal Rs. 1,00,000
Andaman & Nicobar Islands Rs.3,00,000
Chandigarh 

 

 Rs. 3,00,000

 
Dadra  & Nagar Haveli  Rs. 15,000
Daman & Diu Rs. 1,00,000
Lakshadweep Rs. 9,000
Delhi General – 1,00,000

Transgender – 2,00,000

Senior Citizen – 2,00,000
Puducherry Rs. 1,00,000

To prove your income, you can submit an affidavit as proof of income to the authorities. This affidavit will be scrutinized by the authorities and the discretion to allow your application lies with the authority.(( Section 13(2), Legal Services Authority Act, 1987.)) To make an affidavit, take the help of a lawyer.

  1. Section 13,  Legal Services Authority Act, 1987. [↩]

Where can an FIR be filed

An FIR can be filed at any police station. The fact that the crime may not have been committed in that police stations jurisdiction has no consequence to the filing of the complaint. It is mandatory for the police to record the information provided, and then transfer it to the police station in whose area/jurisdiction the offence took place. For instance, if a crime was committed in North Delhi, the information can even be registered with a police station in South Delhi.

 

This concept is generally referred to as “Zero FIR” and was introduced in 2013. Before the introduction of Zero FIR,  massive delays were caused because the police station would record the information only in the area where the crime occurred. 

Who can file a complaint?

Anyone can file a complaint against a person who has made scandalizing remarks or otherwise stood in contempt against the judiciary.(( Section 15(1)(b), Contempt of Courts Act, 1971.))  However, the contempt proceeding only happens between the court and the alleged offender. The complainant is only an informer, whose duty ends after informing the court. It is open to the court to determine whether or not to act on such information and thereby initiate contempt proceedings.(( Muthu Karuppan, Commissioner of Police, Chennai v Parithi Ilamvazhuthi, (2011) 5 SCC 496.)) 

To read more on the procedure to file complaints, see our explainer on “How do you file a complaint for contempt?”

Underage Driving

You have to be above a certain age to drive motor vehicles in a public place. Given below are the age limits stipulated by the law:

  • To drive any motor vehicle (except a motorcycle with an engine capacity of fewer than 50 cc): 18 years1 
  • To drive a motorcycle with an engine capacity of fewer than 50 cc: 16 years1 
  • To drive a transport vehicle (for example, a truck): 20 years

If you are under the age required to drive a particular type of motor vehicle, but you drive it anyway, then you can be punished with a fine of Rs. 5,000 or with jail time of up to 3 months, or both2. The applicable fine amount might vary across states. 

Given below are the fine amounts for two states:

State Type of Vehicle Fine Amount (In INR)
Delhi Not applicable 5,000
Karnataka Two/Three-Wheeler 1,000
Light Motor Vehicle 2,000
Others 5,000
  1. Section 4(1), The Motor Vehicles Act, 1988. [↩] [↩]
  2. Section 181, The Motor Vehicles Act, 1988. [↩]

Cancelling Bail

In cases where the Court feels that during the various stages of the proceeding, a person is:

  • Intimidating, bribing or tampering with the witnesses,
  • Trying to abscond or flee. 

Then the Court may cancel the bail, and re-arrest the person. This is applicable to both bailable and non-bailable offences. Cancellation happens if the person’s conduct subsequent to his release may hamper the proceedings of the case and the possibility of a fair trial. 

Duties of Police During Arrest

Inform

Within 12 hours of the arrest, the police officer has to inform the police control room of 

  • your arrest
  • the place where you are being detained.

Investigate

The police will conduct an investigation and maintain a case diary during the investigation. The case diary is a daily diary kept by an officer detailing all that happens in an investigation. He will need to provide a copy of the entries in the case diary to the Magistrate. 

Chargesheet

Based on the investigation the police will then file a charge sheet. The charge sheet should be filed within 90 days if the accused person is in the custody of the police. 

Costs in Legal Aid

There is no charge for getting an application form for free legal aid.((  FAQs, National Legal Service Authority, https://nalsa.gov.in/faqs)) You are not required to spend any money for either getting or submitting the application. Even expenses like Process Fees, Drafting Fees, Typing Fees, Clerkage, etc. are borne by the legal service institutions.((   FAQs, National Legal Service Authority, https://nalsa.gov.in/faqs))

 

You do not have to pay any money if you get legal aid. You do not need to pay for:

  • Getting an application form for requesting free legal aid.(( FAQs, National Legal Service Authority, https://nalsa.gov.in/faqs))  You are not required to spend any money for either getting or submitting the application. 
  • Expenses like Process Fees, Drafting Fees, Typing Fees, Clerkage, etc.(( FAQs, National Legal Service Authority, https://nalsa.gov.in/faqs)).
  • Expenses of witnesses and all other charges payable or incurred in connection with any legal proceedings. 

FIRs filed for Women Related Offences

If you want to give information about any of the following offences, then such information has to be registered by a woman police officer or any other woman officer: 

  1. Grievous hurt by use of acid
  2. Voluntarily throwing or attempting to throw acid
  3. Assault or criminal force on a woman with the intent to outrage her modesty
  4. Sexual harassment 
  5. Disrobing 
  6. Voyeurism 
  7. Stalking
  8. Rape 
  9. Rape causing death or persistent vegetative state
  10. Rape by husband when spouses were separated
  11. Gang Rape 
  12. Outraging the modesty of a woman by words, gestures or actions

For offences committed from C to L mentioned above, if the same was committed or alleged to have been committed on someone who is suffering from some mental or physical disability (both temporary or permanent), then such information will be recorded by a police officer at their residence or any place that is convenient to the person reporting. Depending on the circumstances, they can even request an interpreter or a special educator.