Making it clear that communication of the written grounds of arrest is a mandatory constitutional safeguard, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has held that breach of the requirement renders the arrest constitutionally infirm.The court made the observations while distilling the legal position emerging from a series of Supreme Court rulings into 10 governing principles, including the duty of magistrates to verify compliance with constitutional and statutory safeguards before authorising further detention.Justice Virinder Aggarwal held that the grounds of arrest must be furnished in writing in a language understood by the arrestee. These must also be supplied to the relative, friend or other person nominated by the accused.“The grounds of arrest must be told to the arrestee and the person so nominated expeditiously and, in any event, sufficiently prior to the production of the accused before the magistrate for remand, which should be at least two hours before production for remand, so as to enable the arrestee to exercise the right to consult and be defended by a legal practitioner of choice,” Justice Aggarwal asserted while hearing a bail petition filed through counsel Vipul Jindal.