Bombay HC fines Maharashtra govt for humiliating duo by handcuffing

Bombay High Court.

Mumbai, April 23: The Bombay High Court has directed the Maharashtra government to pay Rs 50,000 each to a lawyer and an ex-serviceman who were handcuffed by police, holding that they were subjected to “humiliation”.

In an order passed on Tuesday, a copy of which was made available on Thursday, the Nagpur bench said the police action violated the force’s stated motto of protecting the good and punishing the guilty.

A bench of Justices Urmila Joshi-Phalke and Nivedita Mehta directed the state to pay compensation within eight weeks to lawyer Yogeshwar Kawade and ex-serviceman Avinash Date.

“The motto of Maharashtra State Police is 'Sadrakshnaya Khalanighrahanaya' (to protect good and to punish evil) which needs to be respected,” the court said.

The bench held that the petitioners were “humiliated” when they were handcuffed and transported on a state transport bus from a police station in Amravati district to the tehsildar’s office, where they were granted bail.

“Such incidents involving police usually tend to deplete the confidence in our criminal justice system much more than those incidents involving private individuals,” the court said.

It added that the assistant police inspector and two constables had subjected the petitioners to “unwarranted humiliation and indignity which cannot be done to any citizen of India”, making them entitled to compensation.

According to the petition, the two had gone to Talegaon police station in August 2010 to lodge a complaint against a man for allegedly damaging Date’s car. A cross-complaint was filed alleging assault and threats.

The petitioners alleged that they were detained after midnight, stripped and made to sit in their undergarments, and were handcuffed the next day and taken by bus to the tehsildar’s office.

The tehsildar directed the police to remove the handcuffs and granted them bail. The Amaravati Superintendent of Police informed the court that an inquiry had been conducted and action taken against the policemen involved.

The court, however, held that in cases involving violation of fundamental rights, monetary compensation must be granted in addition to departmental action. “To repair the wrong done and give judicial redress for legal injury is a compulsion of judicial conscience,” the bench said.