Supreme Court Upholds Accused’s Right to Silence During Interrogation

• Supreme Court judge Justice Ujjal Bhuyan upheld the right of an accused to remain silent during interrogation.
• Bhuyan, part of the two-judge Bench, ruled that an investigating agency cannot presume guilt or make an adverse inference against an accused who chose to remain silent.
• He invoked Article 20(3) of the Constitution, stating that an accused person cannot be compelled to be a witness against himself.
• Bhuyan distinguished between an investigating agency’s power to arrest and the need to arrest, stating that deprivation of personal liberty by incarceration “scars forever.”
• He referred to judicial precedents of the top court championing liberty.