HC displeased over special executive magistrate sending man to jail for 3 days

The Delhi High Court on Friday pulled up the Delhi Police over the arrest and detention of a person for allegedly shouting at a policeman and a special executive magistrate (SEM), an ACP-rank officer, sending him to three days in jail.

Justice Siddharth Mridul expressed displeasure over the manner in which the individual was arrested in June this year and sent to jail for three days, saying it appeared to be a clear case of contempt of the Supreme Court directions laying down norms regarding arrest and detention of persons.

The court also questioned how the SEMs were appointed and whether they were given any training in the judicial academy.

 

It issued notice to the Delhi Police Commissioner and the officers involved in the incident and sought their stand before the next date of hearing on December 4.

The court also asked the Police Commissioner to look into the matter and take requisite action against the officers concerned.

According to petitioner Dinesh Kumar, he was beaten up and arrested by two policemen from Aman Vihar police station while he and his brother-in-law were building a boundary wall around their property.

They entered into arguments with the policemen during which he had allegedly shouted at them, the petitioner's lawyer claimed.

He was detained at the police station for several hours and then produced before an SEM, an Assistant Commissioner of Police(ACP)-rank officer, who sent him to Tihar Jail for three days despite production of a surety, the petition filed through advocate Avadh Kaushik said.

The plea said that Kumar was arrested and sent to jail under Sections 107 and 151 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

Section 107 empowers an executive magistrate to take action against any person who is likely to commit a breach of the peace.

Section 151 empowers a police officer to arrest a person to prevent commission of a cognisable offence -- a crime for which an arrest warrant is not required to apprehend the accused.

The petitioner has sought contempt action against the police officers, including the Station House Officer of Aman Vihar police station, for the alleged violation of the apex court guidelines on making arrests.