India, Feb. 7 -- The Supreme Court has said the arrest of a person cannot be for simply asking questions, holding that arrest by a police officer is a mere statutory discretion which cannot be termed as mandatory.

A bench of Justices M M Sundresh and N K Singh said the power of arrest under provisions of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023 must be interpreted as a strict objective necessity and not as a subjective convenience for the police officer.

"It does not mean the police officer can arrest to simply ask questions. However, it means that the police officer must satisfy himself that the investigation, qua an offence punishable with imprisonment up to seven years, cannot proceed effectively without taking the concern...