The plea also seeks directions to display the names and designations of police officers who made arrests in connection with the Bangalore Riots of August 11.
The Karnataka High Court recently issued notice in a plea seeking directions to display the details of persons arrested in connection with the Bangalore Riots on notice boards outside police control rooms (Junaid Ahmed v. State of Karnataka).
The prayer has been made as per the requirement under Section 41C of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), which states:
41C. Control room at districts. - (1) The State Government shall establish a police control room- (a) in every district; and (b) at State level.
(2) The State Government shall cause to be displayed on the notice board kept outside the control rooms at every district, the names and addresses of the persons arrested and the name and designation of the police officers who made the arrests.
(3) The control room at the Police Headquarters at the State level shall collect from time to time, details about the persons arrested, nature of the offence with which they are charged and maintain a database for the information of the general public.
The plea also seeks directions to display the names and designations of police officers who made the said arrests. Notice has been issued to the state government and the police authorities.
The order passed by Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Ashok S Kinagi reads,
"We direct the State Government to file a memo/ statement of objections/written submissions reporting compliance with the requirements of Section 41C of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 in relation to the offences registered in connection with the incident of 11th August, 2020 in the city of Bengaluru."
Karnataka High Court
The Bench has also directed the Registry to tag this matter along with the main matter concerning the Bangalore Riots.
The plea filed by Advocate Syed Zaheeruddin Bareed states that many people had called him stating that the male members of their families were arrested in the middle of the night, between August 12 and 16. The whereabouts of the arrested persons were unknown to their family members, who were not informed about the said arrests, the plea claims.
The petitioner had even tried approaching the concerned police station, but to no avail.
He also personally went to the Police Commissioner's office (at Infantry Road) to see the names of the arrested persons. However, no such details were provided on the notice board. This is in contravention with the provisions of CrPC, avers the plea.
"Compliance with section 41C and providing information regarding details of those arrested and in custody is necessary to provide families of those persons with clarity about their whereabouts to ensure that the correct information is reaching all concerned and their suffering is not worsened by the spread of misinformation."
The matter will be next heard on September 11.
[Read plea and order]
