Calcutta High Court orders ₹2 lakh compensation for lapses in man's arrest; says court has to compensate citizens if State breaks law

If the State becomes the law breaker, the courts should not hesitate to compensate the laches, the Calcutta High Court observed Tuesday while ordering the West Bengal government to pay ₹2 lakh compensation to the family of a man arrested without following the due procedure [Sunita Shukla vs State of West Bengal]..Single-judge Justice Shampa Sarkar noted many discrepancies in the arrest of one Vishal who, his family alleged, was arrested only because he was supporting his cousin, a Congress candidate, during the 2022 civic body elections. "If the State becomes a law breaker, the writ court should not hesitate to compensate for the laches and the lapses. Every accused and his next of kin have a right to expect a free and fair investigation," the judge observed.Noting the numerous lapses on part of the Police in summoning Vishal first in a random case and then arresting him in a narcotics case, the judge said that a lump sum amount can be awarded for the said regularities, as a palliative. "There is a need to remind ourselves that rights of individuals is the citadel of democracy and every violation would be an attack on civilized society. Thus, while the reliefs prayed for in the writ petition are denied, the Court awards compensation of ₹2 lakh to the entire family for the stigma, social embarrassment and indignity suffered by each of them and especially Vishal as also for destruction of evidence (CCTV footages)," the judge ordered.Such compensation, the judge said, is “a balm on the wound” for violation of human dignity and for the failure of the police to instill confidence that the investigation was fair, impartial and a quest for the truth. The bench further ordered that the CCTV cameras should be installed within two months in all police stations and units of the Barrackpore City Police with at least one year back up capacity for the time being. It further ordered mandatory videography of seizure of commercial quantity of narcotics in all cases..The Court was seized of a plea filed by Vishal's mother seeking his release. She claimed that her son was arrested at the behest of the ruling Trinamool Congress Party leaders as he supported the Congress Party. She claimed that on March 9, 2022 the Titagarh Police had picked up her son and he was shown to be arrested in a narcotics case on March 10, 2022.On the other hand, the police contended that in February 2022 itself, a case was lodged under charges of criminal intimidation etc against Vishal and his associates for threatening one Ramesh Shaw of dire consequences. On March 9, 2022, the complainant again informed the cops that Vishal threatened him and therefore, the police went to his house to meet him. However, due to non-cooperation and 'bad behaviour' they arrested him under Section 151 of Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), which allows the police to arrest anyone, who is likely to commit a cognizable offence. It further contended that he was let off on March 9 itself and on the wee hours of March 10, he was arrested in a separate case, based on a secret information it received. The police claimed that at the time of arrest Vishal was found with codeine mixture. Noting the contentions, the bench sought CCTV footage of the police station for March 9 and 10 as it was the specific contention of Vishal's family that their son was not let out of the police station on March 9 and was directly put in the lock-up on March 10.The police, however, stated that it does not have the footage as the CCTV cameras are installed in a phased manner and their storage capacity is only of one month. .Justice Sarkar in her order underlined that the right to life and personal liberty and also the right to dignity enshrined under Article 21 of Constitution of India have a much wider connotation and the right to fair and impartial investigation is an important ingredient of such right. Responsibility has been cast on the State as the guardian of law, and the court can play an active part to enquire whether such role had been discharged with responsibility. The State is always accountable to the citizens for any lapse, the judge emphasised."The police cannot arrest a person merely on an apprehension of the breach of peace or on an apprehension that an offence was likely to be committed. What is required under section 151 is that the officer concerned must have knowledge that the person was designing to commit a cognizable offence and in order to stop such attempt, arrest has to be made," the judge opined..The sequence of events and the discrepancies and irregularities which have been pointed out indicate that the police authorities failed to discharge their duty in accordance with law, the Court made it clear."Disturbing features have been noticed by the court in the process of arrest of Vishal on March 9, 2022, and further arrest on March 10, 2022 for commission of offence under the NDPS Act. There is no evidence of his release apart from the two bonds. There are irregularities in the procedure adopted by the police," the bench held..It further noted that with regard to the narcotics case, the police had already filed its chargesheet. It noted that in the instant petition, the petitioner did not challenge the FIR or the chargesheet filed in that case and therefore, there was no question of passing any orders in that respect.It, therefore, only ordered payment of compensation to Vishal's family..Senior Advocate Pratik Dhar along with advocates Koustav Bagchi, Anirudhya Bhattacharyya, Debayan Ghosh, Priti Kar and Cardina Roy appeared for the Petitioner.Senior Standing Counsel Amitesh Banerjee along with advocates Ipsita Banerjee and Suddhadev Adak represented the State.Deputy Solicitor General Billwadal Bhattacharyya and advocate Kallol Mondal represented the CBI..[Read Order]