In a rare judgement, the Delhi High Court has sentenced a police sub-inspector to one-day imprisonment for arresting a person in contempt of guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court, Live Law reported on Tuesday.
Justice Najmi Waziri had passed the verdict on December 7, but the order was made available on Tuesday.
Sub-inspector Kuldip of the Maurya Enclave police station in Delhi had arrested a person named Rakesh Kumar on August 23, 2020, on charges of criminal breach of trust, the Hindustan Times reported.
Kumar had been released on bail after spending 11 days in prison. However, he moved the Delhi High Court alleging that his arrest was in violation of the rules laid down by the Supreme Court in its judgement in the 2014 Arnesh Kumar vs state of Bihar case.
In the Arnesh Kumar judgement, the Supreme Court had held that accused persons should be arrested only in exceptional cases if their alleged crimes are punishable with less than seven years of imprisonment. Instead, in such cases, the accused should be served a notice under Section 41A of the Criminal Procedure Code asking them to appear before the police, the Supreme Court had held, according to Live Law.
In his petition, Kumar contended that his offence fell in this category, and his arrest was in contempt of the Supreme Court’s order. On October 28, the Delhi High Court held Sub-Inspector Kuldip guilty of contempt, and said that personal liberty was a natural right of every human being.
During sentencing in the case on December 7, Justice Waziri held that “highhandedness of the police officer was evident” in the case.
“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,” the court said in its order.
Besides, sentencing the police officer to a day in jail, the court also fined him Rs 2,000 and asked him to pay Rs 15,000 to Kumar as costs for legal proceedings, Live Law reported.
The sentence would, however, stay in abeyance for two months to allow the police officer to challenge the order, the court said.
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