The supreme court has ruled that communicating the grounds of arrest to the arrestee is mandatory. The grounds must be provided in writing and in a language understood by the arrestee, with some reports suggesting this applies to all offenses. There is some discrepancy in the reports, with different courts, including the Karnataka high court and the Madras high court, also issuing related rulings, but the supreme court's decision appears to establish a universal requirement for written grounds of arrest.