Compensate woman for illegal detention, says SC to police
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New Delhi: The Supreme Court has asked the police officers to compensate a woman who was illegally detained in Maharashtra despite being granted interim protection and two weeks to surrender and apply for regular bail.
The top court expressed displeasure in the matter and called the incident "very blatant".
A bench of Justices SK Kaul and A Amanullah said that the woman got interim protection on November 17, 2021. "We had given interim protection to the petitioner and despite the same, the petitioner was taken into custody. It is the case of the petitioner that the order of this court was also shown. The petitioner was bailed out the next day, i.e. remained in custody for twenty-four hours."
Within two days, the police arrested her from the hospital where she works as a nurse. The woman filed a contempt plea against two police officers.
"The respondents (two police officers) have filed their affidavit seeking to express an unconditional apology. To say the least, we don't expect the police officers to behave in this manner, and that too in the teeth of the order of this court," said the court in the order issued on Monday.
"You (respondents) have to pay compensation from your pocket. The petitioner will be compensated with the amount of Rs 15,000 for the illegal detention for one day which will be shared by both the respondents and the payment is to be made within a period of two weeks from today," said the order.
The court further said, "On the prosecution claiming remand, orders were passed by the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate 9th court Bandra, Mumbai, on November 20, 2021, refusing remand and recording that the arrest of the petitioner was not justified."
The counsel stated that respondents were willing to compensate the petitioner from their own pocket. The court then disposed of the petition and asked the police officers to be careful in the future.