MADURAI: Castigating the State police for failing to assist the court properly, the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court granted bail to 24 people who were accused of ransacking a police station and taking away an accused in Thanjavur last month.
Though the court directed the police inspector concerned and subsequently the DSP and SP to appear before the court, through virtual hearing, none of them appeared. Even the documents sought by the court through the government advocate were not submitted, forcing the court to reserve orders on the case.
Justice B Pugalendhi took a serious view on this conduct of the police. He warned that the officials concerned could be prosecuted under various sections of the India Penal Code such as Section 174 (Non-attendance in obedience to an order from public servant), Section 179 (Refusing to answer public servant authorised to question), and Section 187 (Omission to assist public servant when bound by law to give assistance) among others. He requested the Home Secretary and Director General of Police to look into the matter and give necessary instructions to the officials to avoid the same in future.
The judge also took judicial note of the fact that in almost every complaint in the State Section 506(ii) (Punishment for criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code is included purposely to make the case non-bailable. It is the responsibility of the investigation agency to identify and place the real facts before the court, he said. He also advised the investigating officers to take photos and videos of crime spots so that the same could be produced before the court for a better understanding of the cases. Unless these are done, a just decision cannot be made by the court, he added.
As far as the present case was concerned, some photos and videos were submitted by the police subsequently but the judge opined that apart from the real accused, witnesses have also been implicated in the case. Totally 49 people have been booked without specifically stating as to who committed which offence (raising slogans, damaging properties, threatening police etc), he noted. He, therefore, granted bail to the petitioners.
The case pertained to the ransacking of the Madukkur police station in Thanjavur on July 14, 2021. A group of persons staged a protest in front of the police station demanding the release of one Senthil, a political party member, who was in police custody. The mob allegedly ransacked the police station, threatened the police that they would die by suicide and took away the accused from the station, following which the police registered a case against 49 people.