MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court’s Nagpur Bench has held that the September 2011 arrest of activist Arun Ferreira was “illegal” and directed the Maharashtra government to pay him Rs 2 lakh in compensation.
A division bench of Justices Urmila Joshi-Phalke and Raj Wakode criticised the state police for describing Ferreira as absconding despite his being in prison since 2007. It held that the police had violated his fundamental rights under Articles 21 and 22 of the Constitution.
The bench said that when police officers, whose primary responsibility is to uphold the law, violate it, the punishment must be proportionate and stringent enough to have a deterrent effect.
“The responsibility of the police officers is to protect and uphold the law. It may not be out of context to remind that the motto of Maharashtra State Police is Sadrakshnaya Khalanighrahanaya (Sanskrit: To protect good and to punish evil), which needs to be respected. Those, who are called upon to administer the criminal law, must bear, in mind, that they have a duty not merely to the individual accused before them, but also to the State and to the community at large," the bench observed.
The court directed the state to pay Ferreira Rs 2 lakh within eight weeks. It ordered that the amount be deposited with the court and said he could approach the appropriate court if he was dissatisfied with the compensation.
The bench was hearing a plea filed by Ferreira, who said he was released from prison on September 27, 2011, after being acquitted in eight criminal cases. He alleged that as he stepped out of prison, officers in plain clothes picked him up in an unnumbered vehicle while his mother, brother and advocates were waiting to receive him.
Opposing the plea, the police argued that secrecy was necessary because of Ferreira’s alleged Naxal links. The bench rejected the argument, holding that the constitutional requirement to communicate the reasons for an arrest applied without exception.
It also noted that there was nothing on record to show that the police had informed Ferreira’s family or advocates, who were present at the spot, about the reasons or grounds for his arrest.
Ferreira is also an accused in the 2018 Bhima Koregaon case and is currently out on bail.