Power to remove and take into custody person obstructing

Any officer or authority in-charge of or employed on any irrigation system may, remove from the land or any building thereon, or take into custody without a warrant and forthwith handover to a police officer in-charge of the nearest police station, any person who within his view— (a) willfully damages, alters, enlarges or obstructs any irrigation system; or (b) without proper authority, interferes with the supply or flow of water, in or from any irrigation system so as to endanger, damage or render less useful such irrigation system: Provided that every such person taken into custody shall be produced before the nearest magistrate within a period of twenty four hours of such custody excluding the time necessary for the journey from the place of arrest to the court of the magistrate and no such person shall be detained in custody beyond the said period without the authority of a magistrate.