The Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC), Panvel, has refused to grant police custody of a Navi Mumbai resident after finding that the arresting officers failed to communicate the grounds of arrest in a language understood by the accused.
The court observed that the police had furnished the grounds of arrest only in Marathi, despite the accused being conversant in Hindi. The magistrate held that this omission violated the legal safeguards guaranteed to an arrested individual.
According to the court, the police were not only required to inform the accused of the grounds of arrest orally but also to provide the same in writing and in a language he understood. “Recently, in the case of Mihir Shah vs. State of Maharashtra, the Supreme Court has held that the grounds of arrest must be communicated in writing to the arrestee in the language he or she understands,” the order stated.
The court further quoted the apex court ruling, “In cases where the arresting officer is unable to communicate the grounds of arrest in writing on or soon after arrest, it may be done orally. However, the written grounds must be communicated within a reasonable time, and in any case, at least two hours prior to producing the arrestee before the magistrate for remand. Non-compliance renders the arrest and subsequent remand illegal, entitling the person to be set free.”
The magistrate noted that while the grounds of arrest were given in Marathi and recorded in the station diary, there was no evidence to support the investigating officer’s claim that he had explained them in Hindi. “To a person unfamiliar with Marathi, furnishing the grounds of arrest in Marathi and merely reading them out does not fulfil the legal requirement,” the court held.
On these grounds, the magistrate ruled that, in light of the binding precedent laid down in Mihir Shah, the accused must be released.
Advocate Anoopkumar Pal represented the accused during the remand proceedings.
According to the FIR, the accused, identified as Janu alias Tanish Chajjed, allegedly cheated a 35-year-old Kharghar-based businessman, Bhagaram Dewasi, of jewellery worth Rs 10,66,000.
Dewasi, who runs a jewellery trading business through WhatsApp Business, received an order on November 21, 2025, from a person identifying himself as Chhajed Junadan Vel Ratlam. The accused allegedly used Dewasi’s nephew’s email ID and claimed the jewellery was required for his baby’s naming ceremony.
Believing the request to be genuine, the complainant arranged the jewellery. The accused reportedly assured that payment would be made via RTGS at the time of delivery.
On November 22, around 3:30 pm, Dewasi’s nephew, Chatararam, collected the jewellery parcel and delivered it around 4 pm at the Kharghar Highway bus stand. The accused shared a UTR number and told him that the amount had been transferred to the complainant’s account.
However, soon after receiving the jewellery, the accused switched off his phone. When the complainant checked the transaction after two days, he realised the UTR number was fake.
Following the fraud, Dewasi lodged a complaint on November 27, leading to the arrest of the accused—whose custody the police have now been denied due to procedural lapses.
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