Mumbai: Terming the arrest of a cop, recipient of the President’s Police Medal, in a murder case as “illegal”, the Bombay High Court has directed the Maharashtra government to pay Rs 2 lakh as compensation for violating his fundamental rights.
The HC passed the order while hearing a petition by Sambhaji Patil seeking inquiry against the additional superintendent of police, Satara, who had arrested him. Patil had been arrested in 2013 for allegedly destroying evidence and preparing a faulty report in a 2009 murder case he investigated. He was released on bail the following day.
The court criticised the misuse of arrest powers, observing that the offences were bailable and did not require immediate arrest. The court remarked, “A case has been made out by the petitioner for seeking compensation in public law on account of his illegal arrest that has resulted in violation of his fundamental rights under Article 21 of the Constitution of India,” a bench of Justices AS Chandurkar and Rajesh Patil said on November 25.
Patil, who served as the officer in charge of Karad city police station in Satara district during the 2009 probe, had been asked to explain his investigation by the additional superintendent of police, Satara, in 2012. When he appeared before the officer in March 2013, he was arrested without being informed of the grounds. Patil claimed he was illegally detained for a day and implicated in the case.
The bench emphasized that the arrest was neither cautiously exercised nor imperative, adding that Patil was entitled to compensation for the violation of his rights. Noting his exemplary service, including receiving the President’s Police Medal and the Director General of Police Insignia in 2004, the court directed the state to pay Rs2 lakh within eight weeks. It also permitted the government to recover the amount from the officer found guilty of dereliction of duty.
The court further noted procedural lapses, stating that Patil should have been produced before the superintendent of police, his superior officer, after his arrest.
