Swati Deshpande, TNN 14 August 2009, 01:44am IST
MUMBAI: The Mumbai police got a dressing down in the Bombay high court on Thursday.
Rapping the MIDC police for illegally detaining two activists a day before US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited the city, the HC said the police "must not act like nawabs. This is a democratic country and they have to follow the rule of law''.
A bench, headed by Justice Bilal Nazki, directed the police to file a detailed affidavit, explaining the basis of detaining activists Feroze Mithiborewala (41) from Andheri and Aslam Ghazi (57) from Kurla for more than 20 hours. "Today, you picked them up and tomorrow, it could be others,'' the judges said, disapproving of the hasty "preventive'' action by the police. "What was the material for a cognizable offence before the detention?'' asked Justice A R Joshi, the other judge.
Mihir Desai, counsel for the activist, said the issue was of larger malaise that afflicted the police force. His submission was that despite Supreme Court guidelines on arrests, people are picked up indiscriminately and often without any record. In this case, the activists have support from several quarters and lawyers, including Gayatri Singh who had protested against the act, insist on getting a written acknowledgement. "But usually, people who do not have a voice or means to engage a lawyer, suffer quietly,'' Desai said.
Mithiborewala was picked up from his Andheri home on the night of July 17, by two plainclothesmen, who did not give him any reason for the act. He was let off next evening.
DCP KMM Prasanna, who on Thursday was asked to investigate an alleged fake encounter case afresh, has been named as respondent by Mithiborewala in his petition, as he was then the local DCP. The petition has sought an inquiry into the police action and disciplinary action against Prasanna and another officer for not giving any reason for the detention.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/4891830.cms
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