EMPEROR Vs. PBPONDE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioners in this case ask this Court to revise an order made by the Chief Presidency Magistrate on February 20,1925, authorising their detention in the custody of the police till March 6, and pray that it may " be ordered that the accused should not be kept in Police custody any longer but should be ordered to be kept in jail custody."

(2.) The material facts are these :- On or about January 22, the petitioners were arrested in Indore for being concerned in offences punishable under as. 302, 307, 365, 120B, 109 and 511 of the Indian Penal Code, The offences, it is alleged, were committed in the city of Bombay; and the petitioners were arrested in Indore by the Indore State Police at the instance of Inspector Smith of the Criminal Investigation Department, Bombay. On February 4, the Chief Presidency Magistrate, on the application of Inspector Smith, addressed a letter to the Agent to the Governor General in Central India asking him to make a demand to the Darbar for surrender of the petitioners. The requisition was complied with. They were brought to Bombay on February 7 and were immediately taken before the Chief Presidency Magistrate by the said officer. "Then," says the Magistrate, "an application was made to me by Mr. Smith under Section 70 of the City of Bombay Police Act for remand of the arrested persons. On the materials placed before me I was satisfied that there was a substantial ground for suspecting that the prisoners had committed an offence and their detention in the Police custody was really necessary for further investigation of the offences alleged Further, when questioned, the accused had no objection to being remanded into police custody, Accordingly, I remanded them into Police custody till the 20th," Later, counsel on behalf of the petitioners applied to the Magistrate to re- consider that order on the ground that it was not competent to him to remand them into police custody. After hearing arguments, the Magistrate rejected the application; and on February 20 he made a further order which is now under consideration.

(3.) On the facts placed before us no question arises as to the legality of the arrests. No such contention was raised before the learned Magistrate, nor is it shown that the petitioners were arrested in I adore by the Bombay Police. But what is contended is this, via., the powers of the Bombay City Police as regards arrests of accused persons and investigation into criminal cases are regulated by the City of Bombay Police Act, 1902; that Act does not empower a police officer to pursue a fugitive offender into any place outside British India; the petitioners were handed over to Inspector Smith at Indore in compliance with the requisition made by the Chief Presidency Magistrate; the petitioners when they were produced before that Magistrate were, therefore, in his custody and not in police custody; consequently, the Magistrate's order authorizing their detention in police custody was illegal.