Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 · Chapter V: Arrest of Persons
Section 36: Procedure of arrest and duties of officer making arrest
In plain words
A police officer making an arrest must wear clear, visible identification with their name and prepare a memorandum of arrest.
- The memorandum must be attested by a witness who is a family member of the arrested person or a respectable local resident, and countersigned by the arrested person.
- Unless a family member attested it, the officer must tell the arrested person they have a right to have a relative, friend or other nominated person informed of the arrest.
A simplified explanation, prepared with AI assistance from the official text below and checked automatically against it for numbers and cross-references. The official text is the law and prevails over this summary. Not legal advice.
Official text
Every police officer while making an arrest shall—
(a) bear an accurate, visible and clear identification of his name which will facilitate easy identification;
(b) prepare a memorandum of arrest which shall be—
(i) attested by at least one witness, who is a member of the family of the person arrested or a respectable member of the locality where the arrest is made;
(ii) countersigned by the person arrested; and
(c) inform the person arrested, unless the memorandum is attested by a member of his family, that he has a right to have a relative or a friend or any other person named by him to be informed of his arrest.
Corresponding sections were matched by comparing the wording of both official texts, and for the IPC and BNS, also against a published correspondence table. Wording, punishments and structure often changed, so read both sections before relying on the match.
Source: India Code (indiacode.gov.in), the consolidated text published by the Legislative Department, Government of India. Text as updated on India Code on 12 September 2026. Words in square brackets [ ] were inserted or substituted by later amending Acts, and *** marks words omitted by an amendment. The amendment footnotes are not reproduced here. Official text on India Code.
Supreme Court judgments citing the section 36
No Supreme Court judgment in our database cites this section yet.