JUDGMENT :

This writ application points out a case of violation of fundamental right granted to a citizen of India inter-alia under Article 21 of the Constitution of India. It relates to the detention of the petitioner (Khalasi) and the driver of a Pickup Van in the police lockup without registering any F.I.R. seizure of the Van without reporting to the jurisdictional Magistrate over one year and the allegation is that the Station House Officer of the concerned Police Station had brutally assaulted the petitioner as well as the driver and kept them confined for three days in police lockup.

2. This case reminds the National Police Commission Report which has been noticed by Hon'ble Apex Court in the case of Joginder Kumar vs. State of U.P. reported in AIR 1994 SC 1349, paragraph ‘13’ of the said judgment is quoted hereunder for a ready reference:-

“13. The National Police Commission in its Third Report referring to the quality of arrests by the Police in India mentioned power of arrest as one of the chief sources of corruption in the police. The report suggested that, by and large, nearly 60% of the arrests were either unnecessary or unjustified and that such unjustified police action accounted for 43.2% of the expenditure of the jails. The said Commission in its Third Report at page 31 observed thus:

“it is obvious that a major portion of the arrests were connected with very minor prosecutions and cannot, therefore, be regarded as quite necessary from the point of view of crime prevention. Continued detention in jail of the persons so arrested has also meant avoidable expenditure on their maintenance. In the above period it was estimated that 43.2 per cent of the expenditure in the connected jails was over such prisoners only who in the ultimate analysis need not have been arrested at all.”

3. The writ application was initially preferred seeking the following reliefs:

“(i) For issuance of an appropriate writ direction to respondent No. 1 to 3 for taking action against S.H.O. Pupri, P.S. - Sitamarhi and to punish him, which S.H.O. snatched Rs. 40000/- from the petitioner, and kept him and his Khalasi cum Driver in custody and injured their heads by assault and has kept his pick up van till now in his custody, without institution of any F.I.R. on 01.01.2017. Even at till now there is no any F.I.R. against petitioner.

(ii) For issuance of an appropriate writ direction to release the pick up van of the petitioner without any condition or bail bond in favour of petitioner.

(iii) For issuance of an appropriate writ or direction against S.H.O. Pupri P.S. or State Govt. to pay heavy compensation to the petitioner.

(iv) For issuance of such writ/writs/direction/ directions for which your Lordship may deem fit and proper.”

4. It is the case of the petitioner that on 01.01.2017 at about 6 A.M. while the petitioner along with his driver Indrajit Das @ Jitu Khatwe had gone Sitamarhi to sell his Buffalo and both of them were returning in the night at about 8 P.M., the S.H.O. of Pupri P.S. Sitamarhi snatched all original documents of his pickup van bearing registration no. BR-9E-4301 and seized his pickup van without institution of F.I.R. No seizure was prepared. The S.H.O. Pupri took the petitioner and his driver in custody and assaulted them inflicting injuries on their bodies and heads. He also snatched Rs. 40,000/- from the petitioner which he was carrying by selling his Buffalo. On 04.01.2017, the elder brother of this petitioner filed a petition in the court of learned Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate, Pupri, Sitamarhi giving rise to Miscellaneous Case No. 01/2017. The contents of the information submitted to the learned Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate, Pupri, Sitamarhi are recorded as under:

^^U;k;ky; esa]

vuqeaMy U;kf;d n.Mkf/kdkjh

iqijh] lhrke<+hA

fofo/k okn la[;k&01@2017

larks"k dqekj firk misUæ ikloku lkfdu efu;kjh Fkkuk eoh

vksŒihŒ lnj] ftyk njHkaxk---------------vkosnd

cuke

iqijh Fkkuk/;{k---------------foi{kh

Jheku~ ds lsok esa vkosnd ds rj