Supreme Court: 24-hour magistrate deadline runs from detention, not arrest

The Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that the 24-hour deadline to produce an accused before a magistrate begins when a person is detained, not at formal arrest. Justices Ujjal Bhuyan and Atul S Chandurkar held that drawing an artificial distinction between arrest and detention would dilute Article 22(2). The court set aside a Tripura High Court order and directed four NDPS accused to be produced within seven days and released on bail.