Gauhati High Court orders the Assam Police to pay ₹5 lakh in compensation to an advocate for handcuffing him without just cause
Case: Sabah Al Zarid v. The State of Assam & 3 Ors.
Coram: Justice Devashis Baruah
Case No.: WP(C)/2783/2021
Court Observation: “…..the Petitioner is an Advocate and handcuffing the Petitioner and parading him by taking him to the Court and thereafter back to the jail with iron fetters that too without just cause being shown, not only violates the human rights of the Petitioner guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution but also demeans his dignity and prestige to carry out his profession of advocacy,”
“…..as it was the burden upon the custodian of the detenu to explain the reasons why the Petitioner was handcuffed and apparent failure on the part of the Respondents to show the reasons that too when the Petitioner himself surrendered clearly shows that the Respondent Authorities and more particularly the Investigating Officer had acted contrary to the law declared by the Supreme Court in the three judgments referred to hereinabove,”
“The imposition of compensation should also be such that the concerned police officer should follow the applicable law in both letter and spirit and are put on notice that non following of applicable law could result in they being liable to make payment of monetary compensation to the arrestee. In normal circumstances, a direction is to be issued to the State to make payment of compensation and the compensation so paid be recovered from the arresting Officer who had put the handcuffs but in the instant case as the arresting officer has already expired, this Court is of the opinion that such directions would not be proper.”
“Before parting with the records, this Court finds it relevant to observe that it is high time that the Assam Police Manual is required to be amended by the Authorities concerned so that the principles laid down in the judgments of the Supreme Court in the case of Sunil Batra (supra), Prem Shankar Shukla (supra) and Citizens for Democracy (supra) as above noted are engrafted to the Assam Police Manual. This Court believes and expects that the Authorities concerned would very soon take note of the suggestion made herein and do the needful,”
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