Guide · Police and courts · 3 min read
If you are arrested or questioned
Your rights on arrest, how long the police can hold you, and what happens when you are questioned or charged.
In plain English · by laws.sg · not legal advice· Law as at 29 Sep 2026
On this page · 5 parts
The short answer
Subject to a few exceptions, if you are arrested you must be told the grounds of your arrest as soon as possible, and you are allowed to consult a lawyer of your choice. Subject to the same exceptions, if you are arrested and not released, you must be brought before a Magistrate without unreasonable delay, and within 48 hours at most, not counting any necessary journey.
Your rights under the Constitution
No person shall be deprived of life or personal liberty except in accordance with law.
Subject to the exceptions in the Article, a person who is arrested must be informed of the grounds of the arrest as soon as may be, and must be allowed to consult and be defended by a lawyer of their choice.
Subject to the same exceptions, a person who is arrested and not released must be produced before a Magistrate, in person or by video link in accordance with law, without unreasonable delay and in any case within 48 hours, not counting the time of any necessary journey. They cannot be detained any further without the Magistrate's authority.
The rights to be told the grounds of arrest, to consult and be defended by a lawyer, and to be brought before a Magistrate do not apply to an enemy alien, or to a person arrested for contempt of Parliament under a warrant issued by the Speaker.
The Article also does not invalidate laws in force before the Constitution began that allow arrest and detention in the interests of public safety, peace and good order, or laws on the misuse of drugs that allow arrest and detention for treatment and rehabilitation, even where they are inconsistent with the rights to be told the grounds of arrest, to consult and be defended by a lawyer, and to be brought before a Magistrate.
Arrest without a warrant
A police officer can arrest a person without a warrant in the cases the Criminal Procedure Code lists, including where the person is reasonably suspected of having been involved in an arrestable offence.
Criminal Procedure Code s 64(1)
The officer must take or send the person arrested before a Magistrate's Court without unnecessary delay, subject to the Code's rules on bail or previous release.
Unless a court orders otherwise under the specific provisions the section names, the police cannot hold a person arrested without a warrant for longer than is reasonable in all the circumstances. That period must not exceed 48 hours, not counting the time needed for the journey from the place of arrest to the Magistrate's Court.
Being questioned
In an investigation under that Part of the Code, a police officer can examine orally anyone who appears to be acquainted with the facts and circumstances of the case.
Criminal Procedure Code s 22(1)
You have to tell the truth about what you know, but you need not say anything that might expose you to a criminal charge, penalty or forfeiture.
Criminal Procedure Code s 22(2)
If your statement is written down, it must be read over to you, interpreted for you if you do not understand English, and signed by you.
The warning when you are charged
If, during an investigation, you are charged, or told by a police officer or another person investigating offences that you may be prosecuted, you must be given a written notice and have it read to you. It says, among other things:
If you keep quiet now about any fact or matter in your defence and you reveal this fact or matter in your defence only at your trial, the judge may be less likely to believe you.
If you stay silent or refuse to give a statement after the notice is read, that fact is recorded.
Laws in this guide
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