Police can't pick and choose which accused to arrest: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court recently observed that the police cannot selectively arrest some of the accused persons and the policy of picking and choosing persons to be taken into custody must be deprecated [Rajkumar v State (NCT of Delhi)].  

Justice Girish Kathpalia said that the police must clearly state whether it wants to arrest a person or not. 

“Of course, the policy of the State to selectively arrest some of the accused persons cannot be approved. The police should clearly state as to whether they want to arrest an accused or not. The Court cannot direct the police to do or not to do so. Such kind of pick and choose in matter of arrest must be deprecated,” the Bench said. 

The Court made the observation while rejecting a bail application of one Rajkumar, an accused in a child trafficking case. 

According to the prosecution, Rajkumar and co-accused Gayatri had posed as a married couple to take an infant girl in adoption, subsequently selling her to co-accused Deepika, who sold the child further. The infant was the sixth girl child in the family of her biological parents. 

Rajkumar's counsel argued that his client had been falsely implicated merely for being Deepika's paternal uncle, and that the main accused, Dr Kulvinder Kaur, remains unarrested. 

After considering the case, the Court noted that the police failed to explain why Kulvinder Kaur was not arrested. It also observed that since Rajkumar does not have the custody of the child, it is likely that she has been sold away. 

Justice Kathpalia said that the role played by the “investigators in this case is highly appalling” since they have failed to recover the trafficked child even two years after the FIR was registered. 

Meanwhile, the police told the Court that co-accused Kulvinder Kaur would be arrested.

The Court has now directed the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) to take steps to recover the child and file a status report within four weeks. The Court has also sent its order to the DCP to consider its observations on selective arrests. 

Advocate Shrikant Sharma appeared for accused Rajkumar. 

[Read Order]