(1) Any forest officer not below the rank of a Forest Guard or Police Officer may, without orders from a magistrate and without a warrant arrest and detain in custody any person if the officer knows or has reason to believe that such person is committing or has committed any forest offence and, if such person refuses to give his name and residence, or gives a name residence which there is reason to believe to be false or if there is reason to believe that he will abscond.
(2) Every person arrested and detained in custody under this section shall be informed, as soon as may be, of the grounds for such arrest and detention and shall be produced before the nearest magistrate within a period of twenty- four hours of such arrest 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.