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Orissa HC grants bail to rape accused; cites violation of constitutional rights
Excluding the time spent travelling, the court calculated that Dileep Kumar was detained for 32 hours, exceeding the 24-hour limit
High Court of Orissa on Monday granted bail to the accused in a human trafficking and gang-rape case and issued an advisory to the police for violating the accused’s fundamental rights.
Justice G Satapathy said the accused was detained for over 32 hours, “beyond the permissible travel time before being presented to a judge” and ruled that the arrests were made outside state jurisdiction. “Any failure to produce a suspect before the nearest magistrate within 24 hours violates fundamental constitutional protections,” the court ruled.
The court said that officers must obtain a “transit remand” from a local magistrate before moving an arrestee across state lines.
Vepanjeri Dileep Kumar was accused of human trafficking and rape in 2024.
The case stemmed from a first information report (FIR) registered at Raighar police station of Nabarangpur district in March 2024 over alleged torture and rape of labourers at a brick kiln in Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh.
Odisha police travelled over 1,260 kilometres to Vedarukupam in Andhra Pradesh’s Chittoor district to rescue labourers allegedly trafficked to brick kilns and detained Dileep Kumar on March 16.
The journey back to Odisha lasted until the morning of March 18. According to police, the official arrest was made on March 14, 4pm with charges of human trafficking, gang-rape, wrongful confinement and criminal intimidation. The court observed that the police failed to produce Dileep Kumar before a magistrate until 10am on March 19.
Excluding the time spent travelling, the court calculated that Dileep Kumar was detained for 32 hours, exceeding the 24-hour limit mandated by Article 22(2) of the Constitution and section 58 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS).
Justice Satapathy rejected the police explanation that hostility from the accused’s relatives and non-cooperation from the local Andhra Pradesh police compelled them to leave immediately.
“Such an explanation does not justify the apprehending police team for not taking the petitioner to the nearest magistrate, which is mandatory,” the judge said, noting that the inspector-in-charge’s affidavit offered no explanation whatsoever for this specific lapse.
To prevent future illegal detentions, the court issued a set of binding directions for the state police requiring arresting officers to produce out-of-state arrestees before the nearest judicial magistrate without delay and obtain transit remand before transporting them to the jurisdictional court.
The court also said the police must immediately notify the jurisdictional court electronically about the arrest, inform local police and have the arrest recorded in station diaries.
The police must alert the designated police officer in both the district of arrest and the district of the accused’s residence, the advisory said.
The court emphasised that the right to be produced before a magistrate is a “fundamental right” that cannot be withheld under any circumstance.
