(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in section 11 where an officer-in-charge of the receiving centre in the course of enquiry held in pursuance of sub-section (2) of section 11 finds that a person other than a child is infirm, disabled, decrepit or suffering from any loathsome or incurable disease he shall ascertain from that person if he has any relatives and if there are any, he shall immediately send for them and if on enquiry it is found that the person cannot be taken care of, or if there are no relatives, the officer-in-charge of the receiving centre shall, with the report of his enquiry, immediately produce him before the Executive Magistrate or the Judicial Magistrate or the Metropolitan Magistrate having jurisdiction within a period of twenty-four hours of his arrest excluding the time necessary for the journey from the place of arrest to the court of such magistrate:
Provided that no person arrested shall be detained in the custody beyond a period of twenty-four hours without the authority of a magistrate.
(2) Where a person who is produced under subsection (1) before a magistrate is found on enquiry by such magistrate to have contravened the provisions of section 3, the magistrate shall convict him and pass sentence of detention in the nearest relief centre for such period1[which shall not be less than one year but which may extend to three years] as may be specified in the order and an order of detention passed by a magistrate may at any time be revoked or modified by such magistrate.
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1. Substituted by Act 26 of 2003 w.e.f. 21.5.2003