An overview on Article 22 of the Constitution of India

 By - Saumya Singh

Course - B.B.A. LL.B. (Hons.)

Year - 3 & Semester - 6

College - JEMTEC School of Law (JIMS), Greater Noida affiliated to GGSIPU, Delhi

Designation - Legal Intern at Lexis and Company (Module 4 VIP Advance)

Task Day 15 - An overview on Article 22 of the Constitution of India.

An overview on Article 22 of the Constitution of India -

Article 22 - Talks about Protection Against Arrest And Detention in certain cases -

•Provisions of Article 22 of the Constitution of India -

Article 22(1) of the Constitution of India - It provides two rights to any person who is detained-

a) Right to Tell The Grounds of Arrest

b) Right to Hier a lawyer or Right to be defended by lawyer - He has right to choose a lawyer for his

consultation and defence and for hearing in the court proceedings.

Article 22(2) of the Constitution of India - Produce the accused before nearest Magistrate within 24

hours of such arrest (detention) excluding the time necessary for the journey from the place of arrest to

Magistrate.

Case law - DK Basu v State of West Bengal 1996 - In this case 11 guidelines were given by court for how

to arrest any person and all.

Article 22(3) of the Constitution of India - Provides Exception of Clause (1) & (2) of this article. Says the

rights mentioned in Article 22(3)&(4) will not be applied on two types of people-

a) to any person who from the time being is an enemy alien or

b) to any person who is arrested or detained under any law providing for preventive detention.

Article 22(4) of the Constitution of India - Preventive Detection should not be more than 3 months but

Advisory Board has power to extend three months detention to more duration.

Article 22(5) of the Constitution of India - Gives Grounds of Detention and Right of Representation

against the order of detention.

Article 22(6) of the Constitution of India - Talks about exception to Article 22(5)- Grounds of Detention

under 22(5) will not be revealed or told if the facts are against the public interest.

Article 22(7) of the Constitution of India - Parliament has power - Parliament may prescribe the

circumstances under which a person may be detained for longer than 3 months without permission of

advisory board, the maximum period of detention under such law and the procedure to be followed by

the advisory board in an inquiry board.

•Here detention is of two types, namely -

a) Punitive Detection - It is to punish a person for an offence committed by him after trial and conviction

in Court. Article 22(1)& (2) of the Constitution of India.

b) Preventive Detection - It means detention of a person without trial and connection by a court. It's

purpose is to punish a person for past offence but to prevent him from committing an offence in the

near future. Article 22(4) of the Constitution of India.

Note - The preventive detention is only precautionary measure and based on suspicion. Our constitution

recognizes the preventive detention but also provides safeguards for it in article 21 and 22 of the

Constitution of India.

In the AK Gopalan case, the supreme court taking a narrow view of article 21 and 22 of the Constitution

of India refused to consider that the procedure established by law suffered from any deficiencies

But later in Maneka Gandhi case, the court widened the scope of the expression "public liberty"

considerably and interpreted in its widest amplitude.