What Constitutional Rights Help Prevent Illegal Arrests?

The Constitution of India presents an obstacle to infringing individual liberties, ensuring that individuals are not deprive of their freedom ruinously or without some form of due process. The foundational principles included in the Constitution give important guarantees to citizens in terms of illegal arrests to consider the dignity, privacy, and personal liberty levels.

Illegal Arrests: About

• Illegal arrest means detaining somebody outside his legal authority or breaching prescribed legal procedures is a serious blow to the justice and fairness principle. 
• India’s constitutional framework offers robust protection against this violation.

Constitutional Rights Preventing Illegal Arrests

Article 14 of the Indian Constitution

• Equal protection under the law from discrimination and equality before the law is guarantee by Article 14. It is based on this that no person shall be affect or denied on arbitrary grounds while arresting or detaining anyone.
• All law enforcement authorities shall be require to act free from bias and prejudice towards any subject, while courts must ensure that arrests are conduct base on objective criteria so that fairness and justice are uphold for all citizens.

Article 20(3) of Indian Constitution

• No individual shall be force to be a witness against himself in a matter with which any person is charge with an offense as provide for under Article 20(3) of the Constitution. This right would check any forced confession, threat, or any other external interference in detention to alter the confession by an accused.
• In respect of illegal arrest, this would mean that it would not allow any person to be subject to interrogation that is dirty and degrades the dignity of a person as well as encroaching on autonomy.

Article 21 of the Indian Constitution

• The Supreme Court also recognized the right to privacy as a fundamental right under Article 21 in its landmark judgment Justice K.S. Puttaswamy v. Union of India (2017). This right directly affects the manner of making arrests.
• The right to privacy erects a shield against misuse of power by authorities and holds good in those cases where there has been unauthorise surveillance, intruding investigation, and arbitrary detention. Any arrest or detention that involves a violation of privacy can lead to unconstitutionality.

Article 21 of the Indian Constitution

It states that:  “No person shall be deprive of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure establish by law.”

• This is the foundation of protections against arbitrary detention and illegal arrests. No arrest or detention can be make in contravention of a law that is fair, just, or reasonable. Article 21 has been broadly interpret in favor of safeguards against the abuse of power to law enforcement authorities by the judiciary itself.
• The Supreme Court held in the 1978 case of Maneka Gandhi v. UOI that “the procedure established by law” had to be reasonable, fair, and just. 

Article 22 of the Indian Constitution

This article is entirely devote to the protection against arrest and detention proceedings. It has many rights and procedures with it, such as:

• Right to Be Inform: At the earliest opportunity, every person arrest has to be inform of the grounds for such an arrest.

• Right to Be Represent by Counsel of Choice: Thus, a person arrest has the right to consult with and be defend by a legal practitioner of his choice.
• Right to Be Produce Before a Magistrate: A person arrest has to be produce before a magistrate within 24 hours excluding the time taken for travel.
• No Longer Than 24 Hours of Detention Without Judicial Approval: No person can be detain under any circumstances for longer than 24 hours without the order of a magistrate.

These provisions make it impossible for arresting authorities to ignore the intervention of the judiciary and at the same time eliminate the potential of arbitrary arrests.

Safeguards Against Preventive Detention

Preventive detention is not an exception to personal liberty per se, but it is regulate by stringent provisions of the Constitution and law. Article 22 offers special provisions to persons detained under preventive detention laws such as:

• No person can be hold for more than three months without the approval of an Advisory Board.
• Judges or individuals eligible to serve as High Court judges must make up the Advisory Board.
• To consider representation against such detention, the reasons for detention should be make aware to the person so detained.

The safeguard, provide above, are meant to balance the state concern about security and the individual liberty.

Indeed, under the might of the Constitution of India, against any person no illegal arrest or arbitrary detention shall be done. Articles 14, 20, 21, and 22 are, along with judicial oversight and statutory safeguards, a complete arsenal of weapons to safeguard personal liberty and uphold the rule of law.

But an alert judiciary, enterprising law enforcement, and enlightened citizenry are necessary elements for the enforcement of such rights. Thus, making these components strong will not only make it possible for constitutional safeguards to remain as theoretical guarantees but also work as practical implements of justice and fairness in India’s democratic framework.

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