The Supreme Court has extended the stay on the contempt of court sentence of five police personnel from Gujarat for tying detainees to a pole in a public square, and flogging and videographing them.
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ON Tuesday, the Supreme Court continued the stay of the sentence of 14 days imposed on four police personnel under the Contempt of Court Act, 1971 for publicly flogging persons even as it severely criticised the police personnel for their atrocities.
A Bench of Justices B.R. Gavai and Sandeep Mehta expedited the hearing of the appeal filed by the convicted police officials.
The Bench was hearing the appeal against the Gujarat High Court’s Order holding the police officials guilty of contempt of court after the five policemen were found to have breached the famous ruling of the Supreme Court in D.K. Basu versus State of West Bengal, which proscribed torture by police and laid down guidelines to be followed law enforcement agencies while making arrests.
The Bench took a grim view of the conduct of the five police personnel.
“Do you have an authority under law to tie people to poles and beat them in public view? What kind of atrocity is this and you even take video of it,” the Bench remarked.
Senior advocate Siddharth Dave, for the police officials, submitted that the contemnors were already facing criminal prosecution and departmental proceedings.
Dave questioned the jurisdiction of the high court in proceeding under the contempt of court jurisdiction. He added that for contempt jurisdiction there has to be willful disobedience of the court’s judgment in a contempt case.
He added that the incident in question was not a form of custodial torture within the meaning of the D.K. Basu judgment.
This invited a remark from the Bench, “So, you think you have authority under the law to tie people and beat them?”
Senior advocate I.H. Syed, for the victims, apprised the Bench of a private complaint to prosecute the four policemen which is pending before a trial court, and that the contempt proceedings had to remain independent of any other legal proceedings.
Since the appeal by the police personnel was a statutory appeal under the Contempt of Court Act, the Bench admitted the same.
Last year, the police personnel were sentenced to 14 days simple imprisonment for tying the complainants to a pole at Undhela Village Masjid Chowk and carrying out the act of flogging.
The high court had rejected their apology holding that the acts committed by them were beyond the contours of forgiveness.
The high court also imposed a fine of ₹2,000 on the contemnors while making clear that they would undergo further simple imprisonment for three days in default.
The high court, however, stayed its Order for 60 days since Section 19(4)(b) of the Contempt of Court Act provides for an appeal against the Order of the division Bench within 60 days.
While rejecting the apology tendered by the erring policemen, the high court held: “[T]he feeling of getting humiliated to the extent that it obliterates a person’s sense of being human is a standalone feeling and is not legally compensable.
“Thus, the acceptance of apology tendered by the respondents will send a wrong message to society at large, and everyone who has committed such an inhumane act will cultivate a feeling of being pardoned by the court of law, and those who have not yet engaged in such act will be encouraged to do so.
“In order to uphold the majesty of law and to protect the unflinching faith of the people in the judiciary, we hold these people in contempt.”
In this case, the victims were detained on October 3, 2022, between 11:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. from Undhela village, district Kheda. They were taken to the special operation group (SOG) police station at Kheda and were detained for the night hours.
A first information report (FIR) was registered at 4:30 a.m. on October 4, 2022, at the Matar Police Station. The arrest memos specified the time of arrest as 11:15 p.m. on October 4, 2022.
Noting these infirmities, the high court observed that though the victims were detained at the SOG police station at Kheda during the night hours of October 3, 2022, the FIR was registered at the Matar police station, Kheda in the morning hours at 04:30 a.m. on October 4, 2022, and their time of arrest was shown as 9:15 p.m. on October 4, 2022, for reasons best known to the policemen.
“It is also shocking and surprising to note that during the period from the registration of the FIR at 4:10 a.m. and their arrest at 9:15 p.m. on October 4, 2022, the complainants were brought to the village chowk, tied to a pole and brutally beaten,” the Bench underscored.
This, the high court opined, appeared to come within the limit of 24 hours prescribed for production before a magistrate, the arrest appeared to have been shown at 9:15 p.m. on October 4, 2022 though they were already detained and beaten in full public view by then.
Thereafter, on October 5, 2022, around 2:00 p.m., the victims were produced before the concerned magistrate when they disclosed the incident to the magistrate. The high court also noted that no signatures of relatives had been taken on the arrest memo.
On being directed by the high court, the magistrate in their report on September 26, 2023 confirmed that policemen had beaten the victims. Even the medical certificates clearly showed “assault by police with injuries” on the victims.
Section 12 of the Contempt of Court Act prescribes the punishment of simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months, or with a fine, which may extend to two thousand rupees, or with both.
