Shimla: For infringement upon personal liberty, the Himachal Pradesh High Court today directed the state government to initiate disciplinary action two revenue officers by suspending them and also direct that Rs 2 lakhs be paid a interim compensation.
Hearing the petition of Suresh Kumar challenging the powers of a SDM for ordering a direct arrest of a person under provisions of section 107/151 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) the court of Justice Rajiv Sharma directed the state to initiate disciplinary actions against BR Kamal, additional district magistrate Bharmour and Sidharth Acharya, district revenue officer, Kullu for overreach of law.
The two officers have not only violated the mandate of Chapter VIII of CrPC but also the guidelines laid by the High Court in an earlier writ petition, observed the judge.
The petitioner let has approached the court alleging that his personal liberty was infringed upon as he was kept in custody for more than 72 hours and surety bond not accepted.
Narrative of the petitioner before the court alleged that he had made a number of complaints to government authorities regarding encroachment made by two residents of his village on the village common land as well as government land measuring 60 bighas.
Though the encroachment was removed but he was implicated in a false case. At this, the then Sub Divisional Magistrate Rohroo BR Kamal ordered his arrest on 07.07.2009.
Suresh Kumar was arrested on 10.07.2009 under Sections 107/151 of CrPC, while the then tehsildar Jubbal, Sidharth Acharya did not accept his surety bond. He was released only on 13.07.2009 and the proceedings against him were later dropped.
The judge also reprimanded the government for treating the issue in very non satisfactory manner with the Principal Secretary (Forest) and the Principal Secretary (Revenue) not filing their reports despite court orders. The judge granted a weeks’ time for filing their reports.
As Editor, Ravinder Makhaik leads a team of media professionals at Hill Post.
Spanning a career of over two decades in mass communication, as a Documentary Filmmaker, TV journalist, Print Media journalist and with Online & Social Media, he brings with him a vast experience. He lives in Shimla.
