Ask the Constitution → Your rights, by who you are
If you or someone close to you has been taken into custody, the Constitution sets a floor no police station can lower. These are the provisions that apply the moment someone is detained, and the door they open to a court.
Descriptive, not legal advice · text as amended through the 106th Amendment (2023)
19(1)(a) and (b) protect freedom of speech and the right to assemble peaceably and without arms. Peaceful assembly is a constitutional freedom; it may be regulated in the interest of public order, but not banned outright.
No person shall be deprived of life or personal liberty except by a procedure established by law, which the courts have held must be fair, just and reasonable. This is the guarantee behind every safeguard below.
On arrest, your child must be told the grounds as soon as may be, may consult and be defended by a lawyer of their choice, and must be produced before a magistrate within 24 hours. Preventive detention is the written exception, with its own limits in the same article.
No one may be compelled to be a witness against themselves, punished under a law that did not exist at the time of the act, or punished twice for the same offence.
You can move the Supreme Court directly to enforce a fundamental right, including by the writ of habeas corpus, which asks the court to produce a detained person and justify the detention.
The same writs, including habeas corpus, can be sought from the High Court, often the faster route in practice.