Handcuffing advocate: Gauhati High Court imposes Rs 5-lakh fine on Assam Police
The advocate Sabah Al Zarid filed a writ petition (WPC-2783/2021) in the Gauhati High Court seeking justice for the violation of his fundamental rights.
STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI: The Gauhati High Court has imposed a fine of Rs 5 lakh on the Assam Police for handcuffing an advocate and parading him while taking him for medical examination and producing him before the CJM Court, Kamrup Metro district, which acquitted all charges against him.
The advocate Sabah Al Zarid filed a writ petition (WPC-2783/2021) in the Gauhati High Court seeking justice for the violation of his fundamental rights by handcuffing him without 'just cause' by the police.
In view of the Supreme Court in the cases of Sunil Batra (supra), Prem Shankar Shukla (supra), and Citizens for Democracy (supra), the bench of Justice Devashis Baruah said, "This Court is of the considered view that the Respondents are liable to compensate the Petitioner for handcuffing him without just cause, which violates the mandate of Article 21 of the Constitution of India. Now the question arises as to what should be the compensation that the respondent authorities should be directed to pay to the petitioner. There cannot be a straight jacket formula that could determine the amount of compensation that has to be paid... the Court would have to consider the imposition of compensation as a deterrent to police officers who do not discharge their duties in the proper manner and/or violate the applicable law. The imposition of compensation should also be such that the concerned police officer should follow the applicable law in both letter and spirit and be put on notice that non-following of the applicable law could result in their 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 will be recovered from the arresting officer who put the handcuffs on, 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.
"Accordingly, this Court deems it proper to direct the respondent state to pay the compensation to the petitioner. Now the question arises as to what compensation can be directed to be paid by the respondent authorities. The petitioner has neither specified the amount to which the petitioner would be entitled to compensation nor has the petitioner placed any material in the effect of the loss that has been caused to the petitioner on account of handcuffing the petitioner. Be that as it may, the petitioner is an advocate, and handcuffing the petitioner and parading him by taking him to court and thereafter back to 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. No amount of compensation would therefore be sufficient to restore the loss of prestige and dignity to the petitioner in the present facts. Under such circumstances, this Court, considering the loss so suffered by the Petitioner and also taking into account that some amount of compensation is required to be imposed upon the Respondent Authorities as a deterrent, directs the Respondent Authorities to pay a compensation of Rs. 5,00,000 to the Petitioner within a period of two months from the date a certified copy of this judgement is served upon the Director General of Police, Assam."
With the above observations and directions, the instant writ petition stands disposed of.
The bench said, "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 judgements 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."
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