PUDUCHERRY: The Police Complaints Authority (PCA) of Puducherry has recommended a major penalty against Senior Superintendent of Police (Law and Order) Rahul Alwal and three other police officers for the illegal detention and manhandling of Tahsildar cum Executive Magistrate G S Karthikeyan during his arrest in Puducherry on April 19.
Karthikeyan was arrested on April 19 along with Revenue Inspector Varadhan, UDC Sethuraman and driver Karunamurthy for their role in the illegal sale of liquor during the lockdown period.
The chairman of PCA Justice G Rajasuria, retired Judge of the Madras High Court, along with PCA Member R Balaraman, advocate, on June 22, recommended that Alwal and Rajesh, Station House Officer, Nettapakkam, PS are liable to be proceeded against departmentally for illegal detention and illegal search and seizure.
In addition, SHO D’Nagar PS Inian and Head Constable Muralidharan are liable to be proceeded against departmentally for having attacked Karthikeyan, while in custody.
The police charge is that while checking stock of liquor and sealing the shops for preventing illegal sales, Karthikeyan with his team of three others and some police personnel took away liquor bottles from Shankar Wine Shop in Nettapakkam police limits.
Karthikeyan allegedly also permitted the shop to take away some stocks of liquor for being sold at higher rates during the lockdown period, when liquor sales were not allowed. Following this, he was arrested from his residence at Mookambika Nagar, Reddiarpalayam, in the presence of the SSP (Law and Order).
T Sudhakar, Sub Divisional Magistrate, was appointed to inquire into complaints of police excess and alleged assault on Karthikeyan. Subsequently based on a complaint from OSD to the Chief Minister and Karthikeyan, the PCA took up the inquiry and gave the recommendations.
The PCA, after examining witnesses, CCTV footage and records and the report of T Sudhakar, SDM (North), observed that Supreme Court guidelines had been violated in the arrest of Karthikeyan which was illegal. Since at the time of Karthikeyan's arrest, he was an Executive Magistrate, the Supreme Court guidelines in this regard should have been followed. It mandates intimation to the District Judge or the High Court. The judicial officer arrested cannot be taken to a police station without the prior orders or directions of the District Judge, said the PCA.
“The most paradoxical and shocking feature is that the notice under Section 41(a) of Cr P.C was allegedly issued to the complainant to appear before the police on April 20 at 8 am when he was already in police custody on April 19,” observed the PCA and said that the notice was a cooked up one.
No copy of the medical certificates was given to him by the doctor who examined him. The PCA also observed that there was an altercation and in that process Inian and Muralidharan attacked the complainant but there were no external injuries.
The PCA directed the government to place the order before the Lt Governor and mark copies to the Chief Secretary and Director General of Police for compliance.