Delhi High Court sentences police officer to jail for a day for arresting man without notice

The Delhi High Court recently sentenced a police officer to a day of imprisonment after holding him guilty of contempt of court for arresting a man without serving him a notice (Rakesh Kumar v. Vijayanta Arya (DCP) and Ors)..Justice Najmi Waziri imposed costs of ₹2,000 on the officer and directed him to pay ₹15,000 to the petitioner, who spent 11 days in jail. The Court found that the arrest was in violation of the Supreme Court’s judgment in the Arnesh Kumar case. “The Supreme Court has said in Arnesh Kumar that notice under s. 41A Cr.P.C. is requisite. The notice was not served. The law has been breached. It is not the petitioner only who has suffered the humiliation and the indignity of being arrested; the ordeal would have affected the reputation of his family i.e. his children, wife and parents. No amount of explanation to the neighbours or those who may have seen the arrest, would undo the embarrassment and indignity suffered by the petitioner and his relatives,” the order stated..The Court noted that the only allegation against the petitioner was criminal breach of trust, which entailed a maximum sentence of three years. The offence did not warrant the arrest of the person in the manner it was done, it was held.Justice Waziri further observed that the subsequent release of petitioner was of no solace and offers no reparation to the loss of his reputation and “precious personal liberty”.“A stigma gets attached to the person who has been taken away, detained and/or put behind bars by the police. R-3 (police official) is deemed to have due knowledge of the rights of a citizen and the procedure prescribed in law,” the Court said..The Court noted that an apology, if any, has to be tendered on the very first instance. In the present case, even though the status report was sought on August 21, 2020, the apology came only in December 2021.“There is no contrition in the apology of R-3. The said apology is a matter of last resort. Therefore, the apology cannot be accepted,” the judge noted.It was thus ordered,“In view of the above and keeping in mind that R-3 is a serving police officer with Delhi Police, that he has served for seven years and may have a long career ahead of him, R-3 is sentenced to undergo simple imprisonment for one day, along with a fine of Rs.2,000/-, as well as nominal costs of Rs.15,000/- for these proceedings, to be paid by him to the petitioner within four weeks."However, the Court agreed to keep the sentence in abeyance for two months, in order to allow the officer the opportunity to challenge it..Advocates Ajay Kumar Pipania, Aaksh Sethi, Madhurima Soni, Aditya Sharma, Parcco Puniyani, Nikita Garg, Imtiaz Hussain and Lakshay appeared for the petitioner. The respondents were represented by Additional Standing Counsel Shadan Farasat and Advocate Bharat Gupta..[Read Order]