24-Hour Clock For Production Before Magistrate Runs From Initial Detention, Not Formal Arrest Under NDPS Act: Gauhati High Court
The Gauhati High Court has held that the 24-hour period for producing an accused before a Magistrate under Article 22(2) of the Constitution and Section 58 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 begins from the point of initial detention under Section 42 of the NDPS Act, and not from the time of formal arrest.Justice Sanjeev Kumar Sharma observed, “Therefore, once a person is...
The Gauhati High Court has held that the 24-hour period for producing an accused before a Magistrate under Article 22(2) of the Constitution and Section 58 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 begins from the point of initial detention under Section 42 of the NDPS Act, and not from the time of formal arrest.
Justice Sanjeev Kumar Sharma observed, “Therefore, once a person is formally arrested pursuant to the aforesaid provision of Section 42 of the NDPS Act, it is a continuation of the initial detention under the same provision and during this entire period, the arrestee/person could hardly have been free to leave had he so wished. In other words, the person concerned was effectively in custody from the moment of his detention and no other interpretation is possible.”
The observation came in a bail application filed under Section 483 BNS, by one Hemanta Bordoloi, seeking release on bail in connection with a Customs Case.
The case arose after Customs officials detected a suspicious hard-case trolley bag during screening of passengers arriving at LGBI Airport. Bordoloi claimed the bag and stated that it contained only his personal belongings. On dismantling the bag, Customs officers allegedly recovered two concealed packages containing white powdered substance suspected to be heroin. The total weight was found to be 2,540 grams, falling in the category of commercial quantity.
The petitioner submitted that though he had been detained earlier, he was produced before the Court only in September, 2025, beyond the permissible period of 24 hours. Customs submitted that under Section 42(1)(d) of the NDPS Act, the authorised officer could first detain and search a person and thereafter formally arrest him, and that the 24-hour period should therefore run from the time of formal arrest.
The High Court noted that the question was the stage or point of time from which the petitioner could be said to be “in custody”. It recorded that, according to Customs itself, he was detained at Guwahati International Airport, and was formally arrested in the evening on the same day.
Rejecting the submission of Customs, the Court said that Section 42(1)(d) specifically empowers the authorised officer “to first detain and then conduct search and thereafter, to formally arrest the person if the authorized officer thinks it proper.”
It held that during this entire period, the person “could hardly have been free to leave had he so wished … In other words, the person concerned was effectively in custody from the moment of his detention.”
The Court found that the petitioner was detained no later than 1:30 a.m. on September 23, 2025 and the period of 24 hours expired at 1:30 a.m. on September 24. He was, however, produced before the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Kamrup (M), only after 10:30 a.m. that day, even after accounting for about one hour of travel time.
The Court held, “In terms of the principles of law discussed above, in the instant case, the production being interpreted to be beyond the period of 24 (twenty four) hours of arrest, would have the effect of vitiating the arrest and making further detention untenable, entitling the petitioner to bail.”
Accordingly, the High Court allowed the bail petition and directed the petitioner to be released on bail of Rs.1 lakh with two sureties of the like amount, subject to the conditions imposed by the Court.
Case Title: Hemanta Bordoloi v. Union of India
LL Citation: 2026 LiveLaw (Gau) 136
Case No.: Bail Appln./3964/2025