Chandigarh, March 20 -- The Punjab and Haryana high court (HC) has categorically said that a warrant officer has no adjudicatory power to either comment or draw a conclusion with respect to legality or illegality of custody. "...the role of a warrant officer is ministerial in nature since his duty is confined to conducting a search for a person at the said premises and examine all the material available, including contemporaneous record of the police station which may justify the custody," the bench of justice HS Brar observed on the controversial arrest of Punjabi music producer Pushpinder Dhaliwal.

He was arrested allegedly for cheating and exploiting Punjabi singer and actress Sunanda Sharma on March 9 by the Mohali police and had to ...