Maharashtra Cop to Pay 2 Lakh to Person Arrested Wrongfully

A bench of decision-makers from Aurangabad asked a cop and a constable to pay 2 lakhs and 50,000, respectively, to a man who had been wrongfully arrested. The decision came up during a hearing at the Bombay High Court.

Vibha Kankanwadi and SG Chapalgaonkar conducted the hearing after an FIR regarding false accusations was lodged in the Hingoli police station. The FIR was lodged on 27th June 2024 at Hingoli Police Station. During the hearing, the justice found the allegations and the charges to be extremely false and misleading.

The cited offenses were 66A- Offensive material sharing and 66B- Retaining a stolen computer The court observed that 66A was abolished by the Indian Constitution system and section 66B is not valid in the case registered against the individual.

The petitioner alleged that the FIR was a family dispute which involved the wife of the individual. She had also filed cases against her husband for domestic violence. A relative of the individual stemmed up another FIR where they claimed that the wife had recorded intimate moments of her husband and her brother helped in circulating the video. The police constable is guilty and defaming the individual.

"It is beyond imagination that before the arrest, the Investigating Officer will not apply his mind, as to which are the sections those are invoked, what is the punishment, that is, prescribed and whether he can make a legal arrest in such situations?” the bench asked, adding that invoking an unconstitutional section reflected "utter disregard to the law laid down by the Supreme Court," claimed Supreme Court