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The Bombay High Court declared the arrest of a President’s Medal-winning policeman arrested for wrong investigation of a murder case as illegal and directed the Maharashtra government to pay him a compensation of Rs 2 lakh. The court has also ordered an inquiry against the Additional Superintendent of Police of Satara in this case.
In fact, the victim policeman had filed a petition in the High Court demanding dismissal of the charges against him and compensation of Rs 10 lakh.
What was the matter
The victim Patil was the officer-in-charge of the police station in Karad city of Satara district in 2009. During this time he had investigated a murder. After his transfer, the investigation of this case was handed over to another police officer. In 2012, the then Superintendent of Police called him to his office to give information related to this case.
When Patil reached the office, the police told him that he has been arrested for not conducting the investigation properly and destroying evidence. The next day Patil was produced in the court for remand, where he was released on bail. After this, he filed a petition in the High Court and claimed that he was illegally detained.
The case is extraordinary
The division bench of Justice AS Chandurkar and Justice Rajesh Patil, while giving the verdict in this case, said that the police officer was illegally detained. Calling it an extraordinary case, the court said that the arrest of the petitioner was not mandatory, bail could have been granted in it. The court also said that according to the law, the petitioner should have been presented before the Superintendent of Police after the arrest.
Entitled to get compensation
The court said that the petitioner has demanded compensation on the basis of his arrest and claimed that it was a violation of Article 21 of the Indian Constitution. The court said that Patil was awarded the President’s Police Medal and the insignia of the Director General of Police for outstanding service in January 2004 for his commendable service.
On this basis, the petitioner is entitled to get compensation of Rs 2 lakh from the state government. The court has directed Patil to pay the compensation amount within eight weeks. Along with this, the court said that the state government is free to recover this amount from the guilty officer.
