Supreme Court to Refer Grounds of Arrest Issue to Larger Bench

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The Supreme Court of India recently suggested that it might send a major legal question to a larger Bench.
The question is whether investigating agencies must legally provide the grounds of arrest in writing to an accused person.

The issue started when the Meghalaya High Court gave bail because an arrest memo had an incorrect BNS provision.
The State argued that a small typing mistake should not cancel a valid arrest if the person already knew the reasons.
However, the Supreme Court pointed out that older court judgments on this matter contradict each other.
Because of these conflicting views, the Court noted that a larger Bench needs to settle the confusion.

In the Pankaj Bansal vs Union of India (2023) case, the Supreme Court ruled that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) must give written grounds of arrest under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.
The Court explained back then that speaking orally can lead to arguments about what was actually said.
Later in the Prabir Purkayastha Case (2024), the Court applied this same protection to the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.
The Court stated that getting written reasons for an arrest is a basic constitutional right.
Judges noted that Articles 22(1) and 22(5) use the exact same words about sharing reasons.
Because of this, the rules for preventive detention under Article 22(5) also apply to normal arrests under Article 22(1).
In the Mihir Rajesh Shah vs State of Maharashtra (Nov 2025) case, the Court ruled that written reasons must be given in every single case, including regular crimes under the BNS/IPC.
The Dr Rajinder Rajan vs Union of India (April 2026) case also supported the rule that written grounds must be given to the accused.
However, in the Vihaan Kumar vs State of Haryana (Feb 2025) case, a different Bench took the opposite view.
That Bench ruled that while sharing reasons is important, giving them in writing might not always be practical in every situation.
They held that an arrest remains valid as long as the police communicate the reasons clearly in spoken form.

Article 22(1) protects arrested persons by stating they must be told the reasons for arrest as quickly as possible.
It also gives them the right to talk to a lawyer and get legal defense of their own choice.
Section 47 of the BNSS, 2023 orders police to immediately share full details of the crime when arresting someone without a warrant.
Section 48 of the BNSS, 2023 requires the arresting officer to inform a relative, friend, or nominated person about the arrest and the detention location.
These safeguards come from Article 21 because knowing the arrest reasons helps a person ask for bail and prepare a proper defense.