Kochi : In a significant ruling, the Kerala High Court on Friday said that being a Maoist is not a crime and the police cannot detain a person merely because he is a Maoist.
“Being a Maoist is no crime, though the political ideology of Maoists is not in sync with our constitutional polity. It is a basic human right to think in terms of human aspirations,” the court said.
“… If the individual or organization abhors and resorts to physical violence, the law agency can prevent or take action against individuals or organisations,” Justice A Muhamed Mustaque said in his judgment in a case relating to the arrest of one Syam Balakrishnan by Kerala Police’s special squad on the suspicion that he was a Maoist.
“It is only when private thoughts or ideas become repugnant to public values as envisaged under law that the private activities become unlawful,” the court ruled.
Noting that it is the Constitution which sets the boundary through legitimate procedure of ordinary law on arrest, the court said, “Therefore, police cannot detain a person merely because he is a Maoist, unless police form a reasonable opinion that his activities are unlawful.”
Disposing the case, the court ordered payment of Rs 1 lakh compensation to Balakrishnan within two months. However, the court declined the petitioner’s prayer to initiate departmental action against the police officers
Noting that the only reason on which the petitioner was arrested was that he was a suspected Maoist, the court said the police had violated his liberty by taking him into custody without satisfying that he was involved in any cognizable offence punishable under law.
