Informing kin not mandatory if FRRO kept in loop when arresting foreign national: Kerala HC

Kochi: High court has ruled that, if a foreign national is arrested, informing the Foreign Regional Registration Officer (FRRO) of the arrest fulfils the mandate under Section 48 of the BNSS, which requires that the grounds of arrest be properly communicated to the person's relative or friend.Justice Kauser Edappagath delivered the ruling in a bail application filed by Abdul Hameed Makame, a Tanzanian national who was arrested on April 16, 2025, at Bengaluru airport in connection with an NDPS case registered at the Kunnamkulam police station in Thrissur. The prosecution alleged that Makame, who had come to India to pursue higher studies, had supplied MDMA and hashish oil to certain persons who were arrested by police in Aug 2024. When Makame was travelling through Bengaluru airport in April 2025, he was detained pursuant to a lookout notice issued by police and was later handed over to the Kunnamkulam police.In his bail application, Makame argued that his arrest had not been properly communicated to his relative or friend, as required under Section 48 of the BNSS. Upon perusing the case diary, the bench noted that his arrest had been duly reported to FRRO, with explicit instructions to inform the Tanzanian embassy or consulate, which was sufficient to fulfil the requirement under Section 48.Meanwhile, the court noted that Makame had been arrayed as an accused based on a confession statement made by the other two accused. The only additional material in the final report was that Rs 15,000 had been credited to Makame's account from the first accused's account. The court held that a solitary financial transaction between a co-accused and the main accused, from whom the contraband was seized, without any other material to establish complicity, cannot be a ground to implicate him under the NDPS Act.Accordingly, the bench granted him bail subject to specific conditions, including the execution of a bond of Rs 1 lakh with two solvent sureties for a like sum each. The court also directed the FRRO, Kochi, to issue necessary orders to regulate or restrict his movement to ensure his presence during the trial.