BENGALURU: Declaring the arrest of the owner of a homestay in Kodagu, where a 33-year old US citizen was allegedly raped by a housekeeper in April 2026, as illegal, the Karnataka High Court directed the state government to pay compensation of Rs 5 lakh to him for confining him in judicial custody illegally for 14 days.
“Merely because the US embassy or that of any other country would communicate a complaint to the investigating agencies, it would not mean that the fundamental rights of the citizens should be bartered away,” said Justice M Nagaprasanna, pronouncing the order on Wednesday, while partly allowing the petition filed by 55-year-old owner of the home-stay challenging the legality of his arrest as well as the registration of the FIR.
The court, however, said that the award of this compensation shall not operate as a bar to the petitioner pursuing any additional claim for damages before a competent civil court in enforcement of a private law remedy. The present compensation is but a constitutional acknowledgement of the wrong suffered, the court said.
Noting that the constitutional courts have consistently taken note of the suffering, indignity and humiliation inflicted upon citizens at the hands of the agents of the State, the court said that the arrest of the petitioner is held to be manifestly illegal and in blatant violation of the guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court.
Referring to the offences invoked in the case, the court noted that the foremost among them is, Section 64(1) of the BNS, which deals with the offence of rape. Yet, the invocation of the said provision against the petitioner appears, prima facie, wholly incongruous, for the petitioner was admittedly nowhere present at the scene of the alleged occurrence and is not attributed with any overt act constituting the offence.
The remaining offences alleged are under Sections 238, 239 and 351 of the BNS, all of which are non-cognizable in nature. Notwithstanding the unmistakable character of these offences as non-cognizable, the petitioner was picked up by the police on the evening of April 18, 2026, detained through the night, and formally arrested at 5 am on April 19. Thereafter, he was produced before the learned magistrate only at 11.30 pm on the following day for the purpose of remand.
However, the court refused to quash the FIR registered by Kutta police at this stage, reserving liberty to the petitioner to approach the court in the event he is aggrieved with the final report.
The court also stayed all further proceedings pending before the trial court in Ponnampet, till July 30, the next date of hearing.
