New Delhi:The Supreme Court has said that police officers should exhibit greatest regard for personal liberty of citizens and stressed on safeguarding the dignity of the individual, while expressing concern at conduct of a police inspector, who faced allegations of parading an accused in handcuffs and half-naked with garland of footwear around his neck on streets of a town in Maharashtra.
The top court stressed that a zero-tolerance approach towards such high-handed acts needs to be adopted as such acts, committed by persons in power against an ordinary citizen, who is in a non-bargaining position, bring shame to the entire justice delivery system.
A bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath and Ahsanuddin Amanullah, citing the guidelines laid down in D K Basu case on protection and arrest of detenu, said: "It is sad that even today, this court is forced to restate the principles and directions in D K Basu".
"Before D K Basu, this court had expressed its concern as to how best to safeguard the dignity of the individual and balance the same with interests of the State or investigative agency in Prem Shankar Shukla v Delhi Administration, (1980)," said Justice Amanullah, who authored the judgment on behalf of the bench.
The bench, in its judgment delivered on March 18, said there will be a general direction to the police forces in all states and union territories as also all agencies endowed with the power of arrest and custody to scrupulously adhere to all constitutional and statutory safeguards.
"And the additional guidelines laid down by this court when a person is arrested by them and/or remanded to their custody," it added.
The petitioner was arrested in June 2015, in a case of theft of Rs 30,000. He alleged that after his arrest, the then police inspector took him out of the lock up in handcuffs and paraded half-naked with garland of footwear around his neck on the streets and he was also verbally abused with reference to his caste, and physically assaulted. The petitioner claimed that despite grant of bail to the appellant he was illegally detained by the police officer for four hours.
The appellant moved Bombay High Court seeking initiation of departmental inquiry and criminal proceedings under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 against the police officer and sought for compensation. The high court partly allowed the petition, wherein it awarded Rs.75,000/- compensation payable by the police officer but declined to give any direction for initiating criminal action against him under the SC/ST Act.
The appellant’s counsel before the apex court submitted that it would be a travesty of justice if such blatant violation of his client’s personal liberty and abuse of authority by the officer is waived off with just “strict warning” without any real effective punishment.
The apex court noted that the police officer has retired and already paid a sum of Rs.1,75,000/, which included Rs.1,00,000 as per its order dated July 7, 2023, in total to the appellant.
“The Court has no hesitation in strongly denouncing such high-handed action by the respondent no.2 (police officer), who, being in a position of power, totally abused his official position……. ”, said the bench.
The apex court said no further steps are required to be taken by the police officer and the matter now requires to be finally given a quietus and added that justice ought to be tempered with mercy.
