In a letter to Union Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta dated November 26, Delhi Police Commissioner Y S Dadwal has sought a review of the guidelines issued in the D K Basu case. The main guidelines issued by the Supreme Court in the D K Basu judgment of 1996 — which spelt out the rights of an arrestee in custody — are now part of police procedure and have to be followed during all arrests. Among them are guidelines that say policemen should be wearing visible and clear identification tabs when they set out to make arrests. This, says Dadwal, is not always possible “as most of the anti-terrorist unit personnel as also those of the crime branch/EOW are required to be plainclothesmen and not in uniform”. “Wearing tags would expose them,” he said.

Dadwal has also said that another guideline, which makes it mandatory for the police officer carrying out an arrest to prepare a memo with the time and date of arrest and get it attested by a witness, is not feasible either.

The other guidelines that the police chief says need to be revised are ones that say somebody close to the arrested or detained person has to be informed as soon as possible after the arrest; in case the arrested person’s relatives or friends live outside the district, the police have to issue a notification within 8 to 12 hours of the arrest; and tell the arrested person that he has the right to inform someone of his arrest.

The issue of implementation of the D K Basu guidelines will come up for hearing before the Supreme Court soon. Apart from requesting the Home Secretary to appoint Additional Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium to bring the Delhi Police’s concerns to the notice of the apex court, Dadwal’s letter also requests him to address them before initiating any move to bring in legislation aimed at incorporating the Basu guidelines into the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).

“In fact, the legislation could take into consideration our problems and may be so drafted as to cover the lacuna/problems which are faced on the ground by the police while implementing the D K Basu judgement,” writes Dadwal. He also points out that whenever a militant is arrested, “many lawyers in the garb of human rights activists turn up with a battery of media personnel at the interrogation centre, claiming their unbridled right to meet the arrested militant.”

The police chief and the Home Secretary could not be contacted for their comments but the Home Ministry says the letter is “under consideration”.