The second stint of police custody for interrogation in the same case, long after the accused has been in judicial custody after investigation, cannot be allowed, said the High Court of Karnataka.
The High Court also made clear that “once the accused is remanded to judicial custody, seeking police custody repeatedly on the ground that total 15 days custody is not yet over is a right that is unavailable to the prosecution.”
Justice M. Nagaprasanna made these observations while quashing the order of a trial court in handing over one of the accused to the custody of Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in a narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances case nearly six months after the accused was remanded to the judicial custody after investigation.
Though the High Court declared as illegal the custody of Emmanuel Michael given to the NCB by the trial court to interrogate him after six months, it declined to interfere with the statements given by the accused to the NCB during the period of three days of illegal custody.
The High Court, quoting apex court’s judgements, said that it has no power to exercise jurisdiction to hold the statement as illegal and completely eschewing it as it would be for the accused to urge all these points before the trial court, which has to take note of the fact of the statements recorded during the illegal custody.
