JUDGMENT

KRISHNA IYER, J.:—"No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment" is a part of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The content of Art. 21 of our Constitution, read in the light of Art. 19, is similarly elevating. But romance about human rights and rhetoric about constitutional mandates lose credibility if, in practice, the protectors of law and minions of the State become engines of terror and panic people into fear. We are constrained to make these observations as our conscience is in consternation when we read the facts of the case which have given rise to the order challenged before us in this petition for special leave.

2. The petitioner, who has appeared in person, is the complainant in a criminal case where the accused are 2 Sub-Inspectors and 8 Constables attached to the City Police Station, Ahmednagar. The charges against them, as disclosed in the private complaint, are of murder and allied offences under Ss. 302, 341, 395, 404 read with Ss. 34 and 120B of the Penal Code. The blood-curdling plot disclosed in the complaint is that pursuant to a conspiracy the brother of the complainant was waylaid by the police