The Supreme Court  on Monday dismissed politician B Shreepathy Rao’s petition seeking the court’s direction to initiate action against two Karnataka police officers, who had arrested him two years back at night allegedly without following due procedure of law.
A bench comprising Justices S H Kapadia and Sudershan Reddy said the Karnataka high court did not err in dismissing the petition of Rao and that the Advocate General of the state had not stated that the police had violated rules and norms while arresting him.
The court observed that according to the prosecution, a liquor bottle was found in his car parked on Raja Ram Mohan Roy road in Bangalore on the intervening night of June 23-24, 2005.Advocate Trideep Pais submitted that possession of a liquor bottle in the car was not an offence and the court should look into the violation of the right of the petitioner, who was illegally detained for more than 8 hours without access to his family members and legal assistance.
The petition had sought direction to initiate criminal contempt against  S David Mehshak and   Chikkadoddaiah, then inspector and sub-inspector of S R Nagar Police station. Rao alleged that, “He was beaten black and blue by the policemen in the police station. When he attempted to make a phone call, he was handcuffed and thrown in the lock-up. “Rao was taken to the police station about midnight. An FIR was lodged at 00.40 hrs on June 23-24, 2005 and the arrest memo was prepared 9 hours later and his family was informed over 10 hours later, despite his residence being just a few kilometres away,” said Rao in the petition.
PIL against MK spiked
The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a PIL, which had sought direction to initiate action against Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, who had criticised the interim order of the apex court stalling the implementation of 27 per cent reservation for OBCs. While rejecting the public suit, the bench said, “There is nothing wrong in criticising the court orders. It is his personal view”.
No tax for captive BPOs
In a major relief to foreign firms operating in India, the Supreme Court on Monday held that their captive BPOs are not liable to be taxed in the country if they are billing the subsidiaries on an “arms length” basis or without giving any preference.
The judgement came on a case between US investment bank Morgan Stanley and income tax department. The department had said that outsourcing activities by Morgan Stanley Advantage Services (MSAS), the firm’s Indian arm, must pay tax in India.
A bench headed by Justice S H Kapadia said MSAS was not a permanent establishment (PE) as it was performing only back office operations in India and cannot be taxed under PE rules, and upheld an order of Authority for Advance Ruling (AAR).