IN RE BOTWE & MENSAH

JUDGMENT OF OLLENNU J.

(His Lordship set out the facts, and continued:—)

Among the conditions precedent for the issue of Mandamus are the four set out in paragraph 7 of the statement of the applicants in support of their affidavit, namely:

(i) there must be a legal right to be enforced, the purpose of which cannot be enforced by any other legal remedy equally convenient, beneficial and appropriate;

(ii) there must have been a distinct demand and refusal to do the act;

(iii) the duty to be performed must be some public or quasi-public legal duty; and

(iv) it must appear that the order would be effective.

The arrests made by Police in pursuance of the complaints of the applicants were admittedly without warrant, and therefore the provisions of sections 16 and 17 of the Criminal Procedure Code apply:

(1) sub-section 1 of section 16 requires that where a person is so arrested the police officer in charge of the police station to which he is taken should enquire into the case, and if upon completion of the enquiry there is no sufficient reason to believe that he has committed any offence such person should be released forthwith;

(2) sub-section 2 provides that if the person so arrested has committed a crime, then he should either be taken before a Magistrate's Court on a charge within twenty-four hours, or be granted bail to appear before such Court on a charge;

(3) sub-section 3 reads:- "If, on a person being so taken into custody as aforesaid, it appears to the officer aforesaid that the enquiry into the case cannot be completed forthwith, he may release the said person on his entering into a bond, with or without sureties for a reasonable amount, to appear at such police station and at such times as are named in the bond, unless he previously receives notice in writing from the officer of police in charge of that police station that his attendance is not required, and any such bond may be enforced as if it were a bond conditional for the appearance of the said person before a Magistrate's Court for the place in which the police station named in the bond is situate;"

(4) section 17 reads as follows:- "Officers in charge of police stations shall report to the nearest Magistrate the cases of all persons arrested without warrant within the limits of their respective stations whether such persons have been admitted to bail or not."

In my opinion, the proper construction to be placed upon sec. 16(3) is that where the enquiries cannot be completed forth