The high court has awarded Rs 3 lakh compensation to an advocate who was illegally detained and assaulted by the Mangaluru police in connection with a complaint of trespass and theft.
“When the State or its agents fear the people there is liberty; when the people fear the State or its agents, there is tyranny,” Justice M Nagaprasanna observed, while directing the state DG&IGP to initiate departmental enquiry against sub inspector K P Suthesh and other police personnel of Punjalakatte station in Dakshina Kannada district.
The petitioner Kuldeep was enrolled as an advocate in November 2022 and had been practising in the city courts in Mangaluru.
The petitioner was in a civil dispute and the court had also passed an order of injunction against one Vasantha Gowda.
On December 2, 2022, the petitioner approached the Punjalakatte police and served the certified copy of the injunction order.
The police closed Kuldeep’s complaint, holding it to be a civil dispute. However, on the very day, sub inspector Suthesh, along with other policemen, barged into the house of Kuldeep on a complaint filed by Vasantha Gowda’s wife Bhavani.
The police arrested Kuldeep and later registered the FIR under IPC sections 379 and 447 for criminal trespass and theft of a gate belonging to the complainant.
After being released on bail, Kuldeep filed a complaint against the police and said that on the day of his arrest, when he questioned about a warrant or a FIR, the reply was with a few blows on him.
Justice M Nagaprasanna observed that the police neither had a warrant of arrest nor an FIR against the petitioner while entering his house.
“If an advocate could be treated in the manner of what he has been meted out in the case at hand, a common man will not be able to bear the brunt of repetition of such treatment. It is, therefore, the perpetrators of such illegality and violators of law, as laid down by the Apex Court, cannot be left off the hook. They must be proceeded against both in a departmental inquiry, to fix accountability, and under the criminal law to deter any such iteration as, “injustice anywhere; is a threat to justice everywhere” - MLK Jr (Martin Luther King Jr..),” the court said.
The police chief has been directed to complete the enquiry within three months and till completion of the enquiry, the suspension of Suthesh or any other officers should not be revoked.
The court also said that the compensation awarded by the court should be recovered from the salary of erring police officers following the departmental enquiry.
Deccan Herald is on WhatsApp Channels| Join now for Breaking News & Editor's Picks