Persons to be searched may require to be taken before gazetted officer of customs or magistrate
Section 102 of the Customs Act, 1962 deals with persons to be searched may require to be taken before gazetted officer of customs or magistrate. When any officer of customs is about to search any person under the provisions of section 100 or section 101, the officer of customs shall, if such person so requires, take him without unnecessary delay to the nearest gazetted officer of customs or magistrate. The Act came into force on 01 Feb 1963.
(1) When any officer of customs is about to search any person under the provisions of section 100 or section 101, the officer of customs shall, if such person so requires, take him without unnecessary delay to the nearest gazetted officer of customs or magistrate.
(2) If such requisition is made, the officer of customs may detain the person making it until he can bring him before the gazetted officer of customs or the magistrate.
(3) The gazetted officer of customs or the magistrate before whom any such person is brought shall, if he sees no reasonable ground for search, forthwith discharge the person but otherwise shall direct that search be made.
(4) Before making a search under the provisions of section 100 or section 101, the officer of customs shall call upon two or more persons to attend and witness the search and may issue an order in writing to them or any of them so to do; and the search shall be made in the presence of such persons and a list of all things seized in the course of such search shall be prepared by such officer or other person and signed by such witness.
(5) No female shall be searched by any one excepting a female.
Section 102, The Customs Act, 1962 (Act 52 of 1962).
Cross-references
Extracted from the operative text of the enactments themselves. Every destination below exists in our corpus.
Related judgements & precedents
These are some judgments that construed this section, and hold precedence value. They hold authority on how to read, interpret and use this section.
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Directorate of Revenue Intelligence vs Ms. Pushpa Lekhumal Tolani
Court's Decision & Legal Precedent
A tourist arriving in India is entitled to import personal jewellery duty-free under the Baggage Rules, 1998, regardless of its monetary value or recency of purchase, provided the jewellery is bona fide personal property intended for personal use and re-export. Passing through the Green Channel constitutes an implicit declaration under international customs conventions that the passenger has no dutiable or prohibited articles. The newness of personal effects is irrelevant; what matters is whether the items are genuinely for personal use. The absence of evidence of concealment or deliberate evasion of detection, combined with the respondent's status as a tourist, entitles her to duty-free clearance of personal jewellery.
On this section: Authority for search and seizure of goods; used by DRI to justify initial search of respondent's baggage
The holding above is the ratio decidendi as extracted from the judgment by eCourts India, reproduced unaltered — it is a rendering of the court's reasoning, not a substitute for its words. Read the order itself before relying on it.
Judgments citing this section
These may be obiter dicta or a precedent, for you to study. These are the judgments where this section is quoted.
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… Office, New Delhi, kept a watch on her and as soon as she was about to cross the exit gate after passing through the Green Channel, she was intercepted and was asked whether she has any dutiable item to declare to which she replied in negative. A search was conducted under Section 102 of the Customs Act, 1962 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act') and 28 packages containing 44 items of jewellery worth Rs. 1.27 crores were recovered from two hand bags. On the very same day, the respondent was produced before the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate and was remanded to judicial custody and she …
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… Two persons occupying the said Truck, who were identified as Ajay Kumar and Gurucharan Singh, stated that they had come from Guwahati via Bareilly. The Truck and the two persons were then taken to DRI Office, CGO Complex, Lodhi Road, New Delhi. They were served Notice under Section 102 of the Customs Act, 1962 ( hereinafter referred to as 'the Act') . Systematic examination and rummaging of the Truck led to recovery of 200 pieces of yellow metal bars having gross weight of 33.200 kg. The goods were got valued from Jewellery Appraiser, who stated the Gold bars to be of 995 purity and the value was …
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… T5 532. After she had completed the immigration and boarding formalities, she was intercepted near Flight Gate No. 11 of the Departure Hall of T-3, IGI Airport. She was served with notice under Section 102 of the Customs Act, 1962 in the presence of independent Panchas and an interpreter informing therein that her personal search and examination of her baggage was required. She was informed that the same could be conducted in the presence of a Gazetted Officer or any Gazetted Lady Customs Officer. As per her consent, …
Questions about Section 102
What have the courts held on Section 102 of the Customs Act?
Directorate of Revenue Intelligence vs Ms. Pushpa Lekhumal Tolani (18 Aug 2017) is the leading judgment on this section among those set out below: Authority for search and seizure of goods; used by DRI to justify initial search of respondent's baggage.
How do I find court cases under Section 102 of the Customs Act?
In judgments and charge sheets this section is written several ways, and each form finds a different set of orders. These search the full text of every order eCourtsIndia holds, best matches first: Customs Act 1962 102, section 102 Customs Act 1962, section 102 of the Customs Act. Each opens the full list of orders on eCourtsIndia, where it can be narrowed by court, year and outcome. 1 reported judgment on this section is set out on this page, beginning with Directorate of Revenue Intelligence vs Ms. Pushpa Lekhumal Tolani (18 Aug 2017).
What should I read with Section 102 of the Customs Act, and has it changed?
Its own text turns on section 100 (Power to search suspected persons entering or leaving India, etc), section 101 (Power to search suspected persons in certain other cases), so none of them can safely be read on its own.
When did Section 102 of the Customs Act come into force?
Section 102 of the Customs Act, cited as Customs Act 1962 102, came into force on 01 Feb 1963, having been enacted on 13 Dec 1962. It is in force as at the date shown on this page.
Other sections of this Act
- 28. Recovery of duties not levied or not paid or short-levied or short-paid or erroneously refunded2145 words
- 2. Definitions1638 words
- 129A. Appeals to the Appellate Tribunal1170 words
- 27. Claim for refund of duty1060 words
- 127C. Procedure on receipt of an application under section 127B1056 words
- 138C. Admissibility of micro films, facsimile copies of documents and computer print outs as documents and as evidence872 words
Source and method. Compiled from the enactments of Parliament and of the State legislatures as published on India Code, and republished together with commentary and other original matter under section 52(1)(q)(ii) of the Copyright Act, 1957. Structured, cross-referenced and maintained by eCourtsIndia. Text as in force on 14 Oct 2026. This page is not a substitute for legal advice.