Bail and custody of children arrested

(1) Where person who is apparently a child, is arrested or detained or appears or is brought before a juvenile court, on a charge of a bailable or non-bailable offence, such person shall, notwithstanding anything in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, or in any other law for the time being in force, be released on bail with or without sureties, but he shall not be so released if there are reasonable grounds for believing that the release is likely to bring him into association with any notorious criminal or expose him to moral danger or where his release would defeat the ends of justice. (2) When such person having been arrested is not released on bail under sub-section (1), the officer-in-charge of the police station shall keep the child arrested by him in a place of a safety, not being a police station and shall produce him before the juvenile court or the nearest magistrate 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 or the magistrate. (3) Where such person is not released on bail under sub-section (1) by the juvenile court, it shall instead of committing him to prison, make an order sending him to an observation home for such period during the pendency of the enquiry regarding him as may be specified in the order.