The Single Judge Bench of the Madras High Court, comprising Justice G. Jayachandran in the case of Dr.Subbiah Shanmugam v. State Rep.by its The Inspector of Police Chennai has granted interim bail to Dr Subbiah Shanmugam herein Petitioner, former President of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), who was arrested for throwing a used mask and urinating in front of the residence of a woman.
Background of the Case
The petitioner is a Surgical Oncologist serving at Stanly Government Medical College Hospital. On 25.07.2020 one Balaji Vijayaraghavan has given a complaint to the respondent police alleging that the petitioner herein, due to enmity, has thrown the used mask inside the gate and urinated in front of the residence of the defacto complainant. He was arrested on 19.03.2022(Saturday) on a public holiday.
Aggrieved by which, the petitioner has moved this bail application before the High Court.
Submission of the Petitioner
The Counsel on the behalf of the Petitioner has submitted that the dispute between the defacto complainant and the petitioner herein ended into a compromise long ago, but this action has been taken on the pressure of the men in power, since the petitioner is an Office bearer of the Students Organization. Further, it is also stated that the petitioner was arrested on a public holiday with an intention to detain him for more than 48 hours and thereby invoke the Conduct Rules to place him under suspension.
Reasoning and Decision of the Court
The Court considered the facts of the case and expounded that this Court is remind of the observation made by the Central Information Commission in an appeal, where it is stated that the individuals are arrested during night of Friday, so that they will not be in a position to move the Court of law till Monday. Such detention would be absolutely violation of Article 21 of the Constitution of India and it could be both a crime and tort(civil wrong) also.
The Court relied on the Judgment of Joginder Kumar v. State of Uttar Pradesh and observed that “this Court finds patent error in the arrest of the petitioner herein leading to violation of fundamental rights and that error has been committed with an ulterior motive to take departmental action and place him under suspension.”
Therefore, the Court disposed of the bail application by granting Interim Bail to the petitioner by executing bond for Rs.25,000/- to the satisfaction of the Superintendent of Prison, Chengalpet.
Case Details
Case: - Crl.O.P.No.6648 of 2022
Petitioner: - Dr.Subbiah Shanmugam
Respondent: - State Rep.by its The Inspector of Police Chennai
Judge: Justice G. Jayachandran
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