With reference to India, consider the following statements:
- 1.Judicial custody means an accused is in the custody of the concerned magistrate and such accused is locked up in police station, not in jail.
- 2.During judicial custody, the police officer in charge of the case is not allowed to interrogate the suspect without the approval of the court.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Answer & explanation
Answer: (b) 2 only
Statement 1 is wrong because a person in judicial custody is kept in prison (jail) on the Magistrate's order, while a police-station lock-up is police custody. Statement 2 is the one UPSC treats as correct: a person in judicial custody is under the court's control, so the police need the court's approval to question him.
- ✗ 1. The law separates the two: detention is either in a police station under police custody, or in prison under judicial custody. Judicial custody is therefore not a lock-up in a police station.
- ✓ 2. Police custody is granted by the Magistrate only for a limited period. Once the accused is remanded to judicial custody, he is in prison under the court's control, and the MHA Model Prison Manual allows only police officers authorised by the Judge or Magistrate to interrogate an undertrial prisoner there.
- • Since then The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (Section 167) has since been replaced by the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, where the same remand rules appear in Section 187.
Remember · Police custody means the police station; judicial custody means prison under the Magistrate's order. Questioning in judicial custody needs the court's approval.
Sources
- Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, Section 187 (successor to Section 167 CrPC), Ministry of Home Affairs copy ↗ “no person shall be detained otherwise than in police station under police custody or in prison under judicial custody or a place declared as prison by the Central Government or the State Government.”
- Ministry of Home Affairs, Model Prison Manual 2016, Ch XXIV (undertrial prisoners), para 24.09 Police interrogation ↗ “Only such police officers as have been authorized by the Judge or Magistrate, should be allowed to interrogate an undertrial prisoner while in prison custody. … Under-trial prisoners A person who has been committed to judicial custody pending investigation or trial by a competent authority.”
Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2021, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). ·