NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday slammed the Tamil Nadu government for the suspension of ADGP H M Jayaram (Armed Police), who was taken into custody as ordered by the Madras High Court in a kidnapping case, after noting that “these kinds of (government) orders are shocking and demoralising.”
“He (Jayaram) is a senior police officer. Where was the requirement for you to put him under suspension,” asked a bench of Justices Ujjal Bhuyan and Manmohan. It was alleged that the abduction of a boy in a love marriage case was carried out using the official vehicle of ADGP Jayaram.
During the course of the hearing on Wednesday, the lawyer for the Tamil Nadu government submitted that the officer was taken into custody and released on Tuesday at 5 pm.
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Interjecting, Jayaram’s advocate Rajesh Singh Chauhan, however, argued that he was released by the police but the government has placed him under suspension and he has moved the top court challenging the HC’s arrest order.
In his plea, Jayaram claimed that the Madras HC’s order was “based on a confessional statement”. Jayaram further alleged that the HC passed the order without “assigning any detailed reasons” relying entirely upon the purported statements of the two accused persons.
He also noted that he had not moved the HC for any relief but was directed to appear before the court on June 16 for the anticipatory bail hearing of an accused person.
Jayaram further argued that the Madras HC had overlooked the fact that he is a serving police officer in the grade of an ADGP and an IPS officer with 28 years of experience.
After hearing the lawyers’ arguments, the SC told the TN government to seek instructions in the matter and fixed the case for further hearing on June 19 (Thursday).
The Madras HC judge, Justice P Velmurugan, had passed the arrest order while hearing the anticipatory bail application filed by MLA M Jagan Moorthy. “Being a public servant, he is accountable to the public. A strong message must go out that no one is above the law,” the judge had said on Monday. The HC would take up the case for further hearing on June 26.