The short answer
Section 43(5) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (BNSS) — formerly Section 46(4) of the CrPC — provides that a woman should not be arrested after sunset and before sunrise, except in exceptional circumstances. Where the exception is used, a woman police officer must make a written report and obtain prior permission from the local Judicial Magistrate First Class.
This is stated honestly: High Courts have differed on whether a breach of this rule automatically makes the arrest illegal. So do not physically resist. State the objection, preserve the evidence, and seek urgent counsel.
The statutory rule
The default is a night-time protection: no arrest of a woman between sunset and sunrise. The "exceptional circumstances" exception is not a blank pass — the statute attaches a specific safeguard to it. Ask for that safeguard by name: the written report and the magistrate's prior permission.
Physical contact and search
For the act of arrest itself, the law generally presumes submission on oral intimation. Unless the officer effecting the arrest is female, or the circumstances otherwise require it, a male officer should not touch the woman to effect the arrest. A search of a woman must be conducted by another female, with strict regard to decency.
What to ask at the scene
Do not create a physical confrontation. Instead, ask for the procedure to be shown to you:
- The provision and the grounds of arrest.
- The time of arrest.
- The woman officer's name and identification.
- The written report and the magistrate's prior permission.
- The arrest memo.
- Who was informed under Section 48 of the BNSS, and where you are being taken.
Why the remedy needs legal advice
Decisions of the Madras and Rajasthan High Courts identified in the research treat the effect of a breach differently. That split means an illegal-arrest argument over a night arrest does not automatically quash the underlying case — the facts, the recorded permission and the rest of the procedure all matter. This is a lawyer's argument to make, with the documents you preserved.
At the station
Confirm who was informed under Section 48 and where you are being held. Ask for lawyer access. Preserve medical concerns and injuries in the inspection memo. Note the time, because production before the nearest magistrate must happen within 24 hours, excluding necessary journey time, under Article 22(2) of the Constitution and Section 58 of the BNSS.
This is a description of the public process, not legal advice. For advice about your own case, speak to a lawyer or the police station handling it. Keep a pocket card: ask for the woman officer, the permission, the grounds, the memo, the nominee notice and the lawyer.