RAIPUR: The Raigarh police’s act of parading an accused with a garland of slippers and his face smeared black is unlawful and impermissible under Indian law, former Director General of Police R.K. Vij and human rights activists have said.
They said that subjecting an accused to public humiliation violates the constitutional guarantee under Article 21, which ensures the right to life and personal liberty, and cautioned that such practices could set a dangerous precedent.
Chitrasen Sao is among the main accused in connection with the alleged assault of a woman constable and the tearing of her uniform during protests against a coal mine public hearing at Tamnar block in Raigarh district.
While being taken on foot through Raigarh town to a court, accompanied by women police personnel, Sao was allegedly forced to shout slogans such as “Vardi faadna paap hai” (tearing a uniform is a sin) and “Police hamari baap hai” (a metaphorical assertion of police authority).
Videos of the incident were recorded by passers-by, while reports also claimed that fireworks were set off by the police during the march.
The incident followed protests on December 27, when residents of 14 villages demonstrated against the public hearing for the allocation of the Gare Pelma Sector-1 coal mine block to Jindal Power Limited.
“Such treatment of an accused is unlawful. The law does not permit the police to act in this manner,” Vij said.
Human rights activists have also slammed the police action, stating that it runs contrary to Supreme Court guidelines.
“I have lodged a complaint with the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and brought the matter to the notice of the Chief Justice of the Chhattisgarh High Court,” said Kunal Shukla, a Raipur-based human rights and RTI activist. “This reflects public humiliation and brutality displayed as a show of police success.”
Shukla has also filed an RTI application seeking copies of any official orders authorising the manner in which the accused was treated, and whether the police obtained court permission to handcuff and parade him publicly.
In a similar case in the past, the Aurangabad Bench of the Bombay High Court fined a police officer Rs 75,000 for publicly parading a suspected thief half-naked with a garland of shoes, observing that no civilised society can permit such conduct and reiterating that rights under Article 21 can be curtailed only through procedure established by law.