Patna High Court slaps fine of Rs 5 lakh on Bihar govt for jailing man without FIR

The Patna High Court has taken umbrage at the style of functioning of Bihar Police and ordered the state government to pay a compensation of Rs 5 lakh to a man who was kept in jail without an FIR registered against him.

The Division Bench of Chief Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice S Kumar ordered the Bihar Director General of Police (DGP) S K Singhal to identify the erring police officers and submit an action taken report (ATR) within four weeks.

The court has also asked the state government to pay the compensation amount to Jitendra Kumar, a milk tanker driver who was kept in illegal custody in Saran in April this year, within six weeks.

Sources said, Jitendra, a native of Uttar Pradesh, used to work for a UP-based company and had come to Bihar for delivering milk on April 29. However, his vehicle allegedly hit a person in Saran and Jitendra was arrested and put behind bars. However, no FIR was lodged against Jitendra till June 3.

When the owner of the milk company approached the Patna High Court highlighting the illegal detention, the officer-in-charge of the Parsa police station in Saran submitted his report on June 4, in which it came to light that an FIR was registered against the driver on June 3, around 34 days after the incident.

While hearing the case on Tuesday, the Chief Justice expressed his deep anguish and displeasure over the style of functioning of Bihar police and asked the DGP to identify the erring cops and submit an action taken report within four weeks, besides paying a compensation of Rs 5 lakh to the arrested.