Madras High Court grants interim bail to former ABVP President accused of urinating in front of woman's residence

The Madras High Court on Monday granted interim bail to Dr Subbiah Shanmugam, former President of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), arrested for allegedly throwing a used mask and urinating in front of the residence of a woman [Dr Subbiah Shanmugam v. State]..Justice G Jayachandran heard the urgent motion by the petitioner who was arrested on Saturday, claiming that there was a gross violation of fundamental rights and abuse of power by the police in the case..The Court sought a response from the State particularly wanting to know why the petitioner was arrested on a public holiday based on a complaint which was filed one and a half year ago.“Since the learned Additional Public Prosecutor requests time to file counter and this Court also eager to know what prompt the Investigating Officer to arrest a person on a public holiday based on the complaint given 1 ½ years ago, the matter may be listed on 24.03.2022,” the order recorded..The petitioner stated that the dispute between the complainant and him had ended with a compromise long ago, but the arrest was made on pressure from "men in power"..The Court was also informed that the petitioner was under suspension and the suspension was also under challenge by way of another petition. Thus, to place the petitioner under suspension again, he was arrested on a public holiday with an intention to detain him for more than 48 hours, in order to invoke the Conduct Rules that would place him under suspension..On hearing the submission, the Court recorded that it was reminded of an observation made by the Central Information Commission regarding making of arrests on a Friday night so that the detenues could not move Court till Monday.“Such detention would be absolutely in violation of Article 21 of the Constitution of India and it could be both a crime and tort(civil wrong) also,” observed Justice Jayachandran..The Court took exception to unwarranted arrests on public holidays with the sole intention to prevent a detenu from getting legal assistance, emphasising that this was a violation of fundamental rights.“This Court finds patent error in the arrest of the petitioner herein leading to violation of fundamental rights and that error has been committed with an ulterior motive to take departmental action and place him under suspension,” the judge said..Pertinently, the single-judge also observed that since the arrest itself was apparently and erroneously made, it would not give any ground for departmental action against the petitioner..Thus, the petitioner was granted interim bail on executing a bond of ₹25,000..The case was listed for further hearing on March 24..M/s RC Paul Kanagaraj represented the petitioner while the State was represented by Additional Public Prosecutor GV Kasthuri..[Read Order]