Karnataka cops told to pay Rs 50,000 compensation for illegal detention

AURANGABAD: Saying that “when there is a breach of fundament right, liability to pay compensation is absolute and so the respondents cannot escape from such liability under any ground,” the Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court has directed the Karnataka police to compensate Rs 50, 000 for illegally detaining a man. The court termed the illegal detention to be a violation of fundamental rights that have been guaranteed by the Constitution.The division bench of the HC, comprising Justice T V Nalawade and Justice K K Sonawane, also directed the police authorities of Maharashtra and Karnataka to “make necessary inquiry and then take action departmentally” against the officers concerned.On the morning of October 14, 2018, Bharat Shinde, along with his family, had been to the Jintur railway station in Parbhani district to see off a relative. Shinde, who belongs to a nomadic tribe, was rounded up by the Bhalki rural police of Bidar district in Karnataka. They took him along with his car.Shinde’s wife Vachhalabai reached out to the police authorities in Parbhani and Bidar, but was denied information about her husband’s whereabouts. On October 22, she sent a complaint to the National Human Rights Commission, but the commission too failed to take cognizance of her to complaint.The woman alleged that after she dialled a call on her husband’s number, the police demanded money for releasing him. After that, she moved the HC. The woman, in her petition, pointed out that during the illegal detention, the police took over Rs 1 lakh from Shinde through a series of withdrawals made on his debit card. After being released on bail, Shinde gave an affidavit about the places, including police station and lodges, where he was kept under illegal detention and also the alleged gold and cash the police took from him forcefully.Taking cognizance of the evidence of cash withdrawals, the HC observed: “There is substance in those allegations.”The Bidar police defended itself claiming that Bharat Shinde was picked up on October 23 and produced before the court next day. They said that he has 18 cases registered against him, and 330 grams of gold, Rs 45,000 in cash and a car were recovered during custody.The HC, taking objection to the submissions, punched holes in the police’s theory and questioned as to why the procedure laid down in the law as well as by the HC was not followed by immediately producing Shinde before the nearest court, and instead taken 200 km from the place of detention.The HC said: “Only because a person appears to be involved in many cases, there is suspicion against him of that nature, the police cannot be allowed to deviate from the procedure laid down for arrest and detention.”Terming the detention illegal, the HC said, “such illegal actions of police create more problems for the entire family of the person arrested. To make the police realize that they cannot get absolved from their liability, even when they take such action against the persons of a nomadic tribe, it has become necessary to grant compensation in the present matter.”