CRIMINAL PROCEDURE AND EVIDENCE ACT
named in the warrant, shall be protected from responsibility to the same extent and subject to
the same provisions as if the person arrested had been the person named in the warrant.
(2) Any person called on to assist the person making such arrest and believing that the person in whose arrest he is called on to assist is the person for whose arrest the warrant was
issued, and every officer in charge of a prison who is required to receive and detain such person, shall be protected to the same extent and subject to the same provisions as if the arrested
person had been the person named in the warrant.
37 Irregular warrant or process
Any person acting under a warrant or process which is bad in law, on account of a defect in
substance or in form apparent on the face of it, shall, if he in good faith and without culpable
ignorance and negligence believes that the warrant or process is good in law, be protected from
responsibility to the same extent and subject to the same provisions as if the warrant or process
were good in law, and ignorance of the law shall in such case be an excuse:
Provided that it shall be a question of law whether the facts of which there is evidence may or
may not constitute culpable ignorance or negligence in his so believing the warrant or process
to be good in law.
38 Tenor of warrant
Any warrant issued under this Act shall be to apprehend the person described therein and to
bring him before a judicial officer as soon as possible upon a charge of an offence mentioned in
the warrant.
C. General
39 Assistance by private persons called on by officers of the law
(1) Every male inhabitant of Zimbabwe between the ages of sixteen and sixty is, when called
upon by any police officer, authorized and required to assist that police officer in making any
arrest which by law that police officer is authorized to make of any person charged with or
suspected of the commission of any offence, or to assist that police officer in retaining the
custody of any person so arrested.
(2) Any inhabitant of Zimbabwe referred to in subsection (1) who, without sufficient excuse,
refuses or fails to assist when called upon to do so shall be guilty of an offence and liable to a
fine not exceeding level four or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding three months or to both
such fine and such imprisonment.
[Subsection amended by s. 4 of Act No. 22 of 2001 and s. 49 of Act No. 2 of 2016]
39A Voluntary attendance at police station or charge office
Where for purposes of assisting the police with an investigation a person attends voluntarily
at a police station or charge office or voluntarily accompanies a police officer to a police
station or charge office without having been arrested—
(a) he or she shall be entitled to leave the police station or charge office at will unless he
or she is placed under arrest; and
(b) he or she shall be informed promptly that he or she is under arrest if a decision is taken
to arrest him or her on reasonable suspicion that he or she has committed an offence.
[Section inserted by s. 11 of Act No. 2 of 2016]
39B Police officers may restrain, etc., persons in certain circumstances
without intention to arrest
(1) In the exercise of a police officer’s socially protective function, a police officer may—
(a) without intending to charge a person with an offence or without having formed the
intention to charge a person with an offence; and
(b) by the of use such force as is reasonably justifiable and proportionate in the circumstances of the case (but never by the use of lethal force) to overcome any resistance on
the part of the person concerned or to prevent the person concerned from escaping;
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