Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Friday dismissed the petition filed by Ego Media director Bhavesh Bhinde, who was arrested in connection with Ghatkopar giant hoarding collapse tragedy, observing that there was no legal infirmity in effecting his arrest. The court noted that Bhinde’s claim of his “illegal” arrest is nothing but “a faux and ersatz call”.
Amid rains and strong winds, the giant billboard collapsed on May 13, killing 17 people and injuring more than 70. Bhinde was arrested four days later from Udaipur.
The high court dismissed the petition filed by Bhinde seeking quashing of the FIR against him, claiming that the incident was an “act of God”. Bhinde alleged that police did not follow proper procedure while arresting him as he was not provided “ground of arrest” in writing and hence he was illegally detained.
The court said that there is no impairment of any manner of the procedural safeguards, which are indispensable and receive recognition through the constitution, which have considered liberty of the citizen to be of paramount importance.
“The arrest of the petitioner (Bhinde) is in strict compliance of the constitutional safeguards as well as the provision contained in the Code of Criminal Procedure. Similarly, we also do not find any infraction of his right enshrined in Article 22(1) and (2) of the Constitution,” a bench of Justices Bharati Dangre and Manjusha Deshpande said.
In a detailed order, the HC said: “Finding no legal infirmity in effecting the arrest of the Petitioner in connection with a serious offence registered against him, the grounds raised for claiming his arrest to be illegal, according to us, is nothing, but a faux and ersatz call.”
Bhinde’s lawyer Rizwan Merchant had argued that Bhinde was arrested from Udaipur on May 16 and was then brought to Mumbai the next day. Bhinde was shown arrested only on May 17, hence Bhinde was in illegal detention for a whole day, Merchant argued. The advocate relied on media reports quoting the police saying that Bhinde has been apprehended in Udaipur at Rajasthan and arrested.
However, the bench said Bhinde was only tracked down and apprehended at Udaipur on May 16. He was brought to Mumbai immediately and shown formally arrested on May 17. All procedure was followed and the arrest memo was duly filled and bears the signature of Bhinde, the court said.
“The concept of being in custody cannot be equated with the concept of formal arrest,” the bench said. “Definitely merely taking a person into custody by an authority empowered to arrest, or mere presence of the accused is not enough to constitute his arrest unless the procedure prescribed is followed.”
