A Single Judge Bench of the Madras High Court, comprising Justice N Anand Venkatesh has expressed its concern over the mistreatment that Police are subjected to. The Court observed that the Police personnel are working in hard and adverse conditions and in spite of that they are subjected to ill-treatment which cannot be tolerated.
The Court was of the opinion that imposing a fine of Ten Thousand Rupees was needed to set an example for others.
“This Court is not going to be lenient when it comes of threatening the Police, when they are performing their duty during this pandemic situation and the petitioner must also be made to pay Ten Thousand rupees as compensation.”
Background of the Case
In this case, the Petitioners were travelling in an Auto-Rickshaw without following the COVID-19 Protocol and when the same was questioned by the Police, they are said to have abused them and prevented them from doing their public duty. There are totally five accused persons in this case and the petitioner has been ranked as Accused No.4.
Submission of the Respondent
The learned Counsel on the behalf of the Police submitted that the Accused Nos.1 to 3 were arrested and remanded to judicial custody and the other two persons are absconding.
Reasoning and Decision of the Court
The Court perused all the facts and expressed that the Police are already functioning under severe stress due to the pandemic. Everyone should realize their responsibility since the virus is taking away the precious lives of innocent people.
The Police are only performing their public duty and when they are questioned by someone, who is moving around when there is a total lockdown, the concerned person is expected to properly answer the queries of the Police. The Court reiterated and held that,
"The Police cannot be subjected to abuse and threat by anyone and such acts must be dealt with very sternly. This Court is not going to be lenient when it comes of threatening the Police, when they are performing their duty during this pandemic situation."
The Court ordered the Petitioner to file an affidavit in the Registry expressing regret for the entire incident and giving an undertaking that he will not involve himself in any such activity in future and deposit a sum of Rs.10,000/- as compensation.
Therefore the Court posted the matter for further hearing and directed the Respondent Police not to arrest the petitioner.
Case Details
Case: - Crl.O.P.(MD).No.7252 of 2021
Judge: Justice N Anand Venkatesh
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