In the Constitution of India, every citizen of India was given their fundamental rights. These rights have been protected in the Constitution of India. If someone snatches them from these rights, then the doors of the court are open for you. According to Article 21 of the Constitution, all citizens of India have the right to life and personal liberty, that is, the right to live. Right to live here means to live with dignity and not to live like an animal. It was clarified in the case of Kharak Singh Vs State of Uttar Pradesh that a citizen has the right to live a life with dignity.
These rights have also been given to all those citizens who have been arrested in any case. Our Justice Krishna Iyer has also said that the arrested persons are also integral parts and they are not considered away from the society. They also have the right to live with dignity.
It has also been said in jurisprudence that until the charges against an accused are proved, he will be presumed innocent. Keeping all these things in mind, they have been given a lot of protection.
According to Article 22, the following types of rights have been given to the persons arrested by the above arrangement which are as follows.
1. Right to know the reason for the arrest-
The person arrested has the right to know the purpose of his arrest. Whenever the police arrest someone, it is the responsibility of the police to tell him why he has been arrested. The Supreme Court in Tarachand v State of West Bengal has observed that if there is a delay in giving reasons for the arrest to the arrested person, it will be necessary to give an explanation of such delay. So it is clear that no person can be arrested without any reason.
2. Right to meet to advocate-
The person being arrested can consult a lawyer of his choice and has also been given the right to get defense. The accused person can neither be prosecuted nor punished with any punishment without giving him an opportunity of defense. In fact, he has the right to consult and defend a lawyer of his choice.
3. Right to be produced in front of Magistrate within 24 hours-
Right of the arrested person to produce him before the nearest magistrate within 24 hours. The person so arrested cannot be kept in custody for more than 24 hours without the order of the Magistrate. Such a provision has been made in Section 57 of the Code of Criminal Procedure 1973.
4. Right to be released on bail-
The arrested person has also been given the right to be released on bail. If an arrested person is accused of committing a bailable offence, he is entitled to be released on bail under section 436 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 and if his offense is non-bailable, he is entitled to bail under section 437 of the Code of Criminal Procedure can apply.
5. right to free legal aid-
As we have seen above that according to Article 22(1) of the Constitution, every arrested person has the right to meet and consult a lawyer of his choice. But this right has significance only if the arrested person has sufficient funds to appoint a lawyer. This is not possible for a poor person. Therefore, provision has been made for free legal aid to poor people in the constitution and other laws.
Article 39A of the Constitution provides that no person shall be deprived of justice merely by reason of want of economics or any disability. Exactly a similar arrangement has been made in section 304 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.