OVERVIEW

Difference between Police Custody and Judicial Custody

In both police custody and judicial custody, the suspect is kept in the custody of the law. The common objective of both of them is to reduce crime in society. Through this blog, let us know what the difference is between these two words.

Police Custody:

• When the police receive information or complaint/report about any person, the concerned police officer arrests the suspect involved in the crime to prevent that person from committing further crime. When such a suspicious person is put in a police lockup, it is called police custody.
• Every person arrested and detained by the police must be produced before the nearest Magistrate within 24 hours of the arrest, excluding the time required for the journey from the place of arrest to the Magistrate's court. No person can be detained for more than a period of 24 hours without the order of a magistrate.
• It is the duty of the police officer involved in this case to produce the suspect within 24 hours before the appropriate judge and produce evidence against him. It is pertinent to mention that this 24-hour time does not include the time spent bringing the suspect from the police station to the court.
• Police Custody When a police officer arrests a person on suspicion of committing a cognizable offense, the arrested person is said to have been taken into custody. The purpose of police custody is to interrogate the suspect to gather more information about the crime, to prevent the destruction of evidence, and to prevent witnesses from influencing the case by intimidation by the accused.

Judicial Custody:

• Judicial or judicial custody means that the person will be kept in jail on the orders of the concerned Magistrate. Keep in mind that a person is not kept in jail in police custody. You must have heard that the court has sent the accused person to judicial custody for 14 days.
• Judicial custody When an accused arrested by the police is produced before a magistrate, he has two options, sending the accused to police custody or judicial custody.
• It is clear from Section 167(2) of CrPC that the Magistrate may fix such custody for the accused as he thinks fit.
• In police custody, the police will have physical custody of the accused. So when sent to police custody, the accused will be locked up in the police station. In that scenario, the police will have the time access to the accused for questioning.
• In judicial custody, the accused will be in a magistrate's custody and sent to jail. To interrogate the accused kept in judicial custody, the police will have to take the permission of the concerned Magistrate.
• The interrogation by the police during such custody with the permission of the Magistrate cannot change the nature of the custody. Section 167 does not require that in all circumstances, the arrest should be made by a police officer and not by anyone else, and the entries in the case diary must be recorded.
• Therefore, the custody must necessarily be the production of the arrested person before a competent magistrate by a competent authority or an officer empowered to stop, having regard to the recognition that 'the accused may be guilty of an offense punishable under the relevant law.' But it would be possible, notwithstanding that the officer who made the arrest is not a police officer in the true sense.
• In cases of criminals released on bail, the accused is not sent to police custody, and police custody remains until the police file the charge sheet. Once the charge sheet is filed, the police are left with no reason to keep the accused in custody.
• Police custody is under the protection provided by the police, whereas in judicial custody, the arrested person is under the judge's protection.
• Police custody is done for crimes like murder, robbery, kidnapping, intimidation, theft, etc. While judicial custody is applied in cases like police custody offenses, defamation of court, denial of bail, etc.
• In police custody, the accused is kept in police lockup, whereas in judicial custody, the accused is kept in the court's custody, i.e., in jail. Police can arrest an accused after registering an FIR for a cognizable offence. The arrest is made to avoid tampering with the evidence or intimidating the witnesses.
• In case of any crime like murder, robbery, kidnapping, theft, intimidation, etc., there is police custody, while there is judicial custody in contempt of court and other cases.
• If the police file a charge sheet against a person, that person cannot be kept in police custody. Even if a person's bail is rejected, he cannot be remanded in police custody.

How do I get Judicial Custody?

• When the police arrest someone suspected of a cognizable offence, he is in police custody. No one can be kept in police custody for more than 24 hours without the court's permission.
• Every person detained or arrested has to be produced before the nearest Magistrate within 24 hours.
• When the police arrest and present an accused, the court has two options: send him to police custody or to judicial custody.
• If remand is given in police custody, the accused is kept in the lockup of the police station. In such a situation, the police have the freedom to interrogate the accused at any time.
• In judicial custody, the accused gets the custody of a magistrate and is sent to jail. The police cannot interrogate such an accused without taking permission from the Magistrate concerned.
• The deadline for the first custody is 15 days. The Magistrate has the power to change the type of custody, but not in time. If custody changes before 15 days, the days spent in second custody are deducted.

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