Every arrested person to be provided grounds of arrest in writing in reasonable time: Supreme Court

New Delhi: In a significant judgment, the Supreme Court on Thursday held that every arrested person must be furnished with the grounds of arrest in writing and in a language they understand irrespective of the nature of the offence or statute involved.

A bench of Chief Justice of India B R Gavai and Justice Augustine George Masih, however, declared that non supply of grounds of arrest in writing to the arrestee prior to or immediately after arrest would not vitiate such arrest if the same is "supplied in writing within a reasonable time and in any case two hours prior to the production of the arrestee before the magistrate for remand proceedings".

The court's judgment came in the case of Mihir Rajesh Shah related to the high-profile Mumbai BMW hit-and-run incident of July 2024.

Justice Masih, who penned a 52-page judgment for the bench, ruled that the constitutional mandate under Article 22 of the Constitution, which guarantees that an arrested person must be informed "as soon as may be" of the grounds of arrest, is not a procedural formality but a fundamental safeguard of personal liberty.

"To achieve the intended objective of the constitutional mandate of Article 22 of the Constitution of India, the grounds of arrest must be informed to the arrested person in each and every case without exception and the mode of the communication of such grounds must be in writing in the language he understands," the judgment said.

The court emphasised the constitutional mandate of informing the arrestee the grounds of arrest is mandatory in all offences under all statutes including offences under IPC.

In case of non-compliance, the bench said, the arrest and subsequent remand would be rendered illegal and the person will be at liberty to be set free.

The court directed its registry to send a copy of the judgment to all the registrars general of the high courts and the chief secretaries of all the states and Union territories.

Earlier, the apex court in Pankaj Bansal (2024) (PMLA), Prabir Purkayastha (2024) (UAPA) and Vihaan Kumar (2025) also held providing grounds of arrests was mandatory as a constitutional requirment.