LANDMARK CASE

Arnesh Kumar v. State of Bihar

(2014) 8 SCC 273 · Supreme Court of India · Criminal procedure

At a glance

Citation: (2014) 8 SCC 273
Court: Supreme Court of India
Area of law: Criminal procedure
In one line: Police must not arrest automatically. They must record reasons under the arrest provisions, and magistrates must check them before authorising detention.

1 Facts

The case concerned arrests under Section 498A IPC (cruelty to a wife), often made automatically.

2 Issue

When should police arrest for offences punishable up to seven years?

3 What the court decided

Police must not arrest automatically. They must record reasons under the arrest provisions, and magistrates must check them before authorising detention.

4 Why it matters

It is the leading guide against unnecessary arrests.

5 Think about it

How does this case protect both the accused and the integrity of the investigation?

6 Analyse it yourself

Read the full judgment from an official source or a law database, then brief it in seven steps: facts, issues, arguments, decision, ratio, obiter and significance. Always check the citation before you rely on it.

7 More cases on Criminal procedure

Arnab Manoranjan Goswami v. Union of India (2020) 14 SCC 12
D.K. Basu v. State of West Bengal (1997) 1 SCC 416
Gian Singh v. State of Punjab (2012) 10 SCC 303
Gideon v. Wainwright 372 U.S. 335 (1963)
Gurbaksh Singh Sibbia v. State of Punjab (1980) 2 SCC 565
Joginder Kumar v. State of Uttar Pradesh (1994) 4 SCC 260

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