Can police hold me beyond 24 hours without taking me to court?

Article 49(1)(f) of the Constitution requires police to bring an arrested person before a court within 24 hours of arrest. However If the 24 hours end outside ordinary court hours or on a day the court does not ordinarily sit, the deadline moves to the end of the next court day. For instance, if someone is arrested on Friday evening, the deadline is ordinarily the end of Monday, assuming Monday is a court day.

If police want to keep you beyond the applicable deadline to finish investigations, they must bring you before a court and obtain an order allowing further detention. At that first appearance, you must be charged, told why you are being kept in custody, or released. You can oppose the application and ask for bail or bond.

If 24 hour deadline has already passed since time of arrest and you are still in custody, ask to speak to an advocate immediately. Give the advocate the time of arrest, the police station where you are held and the Occurrence Book (OB) number if you have it. An advocate can urgently ask the High Court for habeas corpus, an order requiring police to bring you before the court so it can review whether your detention is lawful.