The Kerala High Court has struck down two clauses of the state government’s guidelines that restricted the production of arrested persons before judicial officers to ordinary court hours (10 am to 5 pm) and required “exceptional circumstances” for late-night production.

Justices Raja Vijayaraghavan V and K V Jayakumar were hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by an advocate who contended that treating after-hours production as an exception would create an artificial delay that would not allow police to present a person before a magistrate within 24 hours.…