HC directs state govt to pay Rs.5 lakh to man arrested despite stay
PRAYAGRAJ, June 2 -- The Allahabad high court has directed the state government to pay Rs.5 lakh as compensation to a man who was arrested and kept in 'illegal detention' by UP Police despite the HC's interim order staying his arrest.
The court further directed that disciplinary proceedings be initiated against the concerned SHO for "dereliction in the due discharge of official duty, violation of the order passed by this Court and commission of an act of indiscipline".
The bench comprising justices Siddharth and Vinai Kumar Dwivedi was hearing a habeas corpus petition moved by Anil Soni.
The petitioner said an FIR under Section 69 (sexual intercourse by employing deceitful means) and other sections of the BNS, along with provisions of the SC/ST Act was lodged against him at Itwa police station of Siddharth Nagar by a woman with whom he allegedly had a love affair for the last two years.
Earlier, he had moved the HC challenging the FIR. On April 1, another division bench passed an interim order specifically staying his arrest in the said FIR. Although this order was uploaded to HC's website on April 6, he was arrested on April 4 by the concerned SHO.
In the present petition, the petitioner submitted that his brother had prepared a notarised affidavit on the day of the arrest to inform the SHO of the high court's interim order.
Even his counsel contacted the SHO via his CUG mobile numbers, but the officer concerned arrested the petitioner.
The AGA justified the arrest of the petitioner, contending that the SHO was bound to make the arrest on account of the non-production of the interim order of stay of his arrest. The bench, however, rejected the state's justification, noting that all the respondents were fully aware of the order. In fact, the bench took into account that even after filing the present plea, on which replies were sought from the respondents, the petitioner was not released from jail.
The bench observed, "We have noted that this unfortunate trend is given the momentum. Learned counsel for the State do not either intimate the orders passed by this Court to the police authorities as a result of which the authorities do not comply with the order passed by this Court or the police authorities are disrespectful towards the Court orders and they act in mala fide manner."...
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