On 3rd December, the Punjab and Haryana High Court directed the Government of Punjab to pay compensation of Rs 2 lakh to a 36-year-old man who was wrongfully arrested and incarcerated under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. Gurdeep Singh (name changed) was returning from his field when he was stopped by the Punjab Police. He was arrested on the accusation of possessing narcotic capsules which turned out to be paracetamol. In a strongly worded judgment, Justice Kirti Singh criticised the Punjab Police for its “high-handedness”. OpIndia accessed the copies of judgment and FIR in the matter.
Background of the case
According to the FIR filed in the case, SHO Sultanpur Lodhi, along with other police personnel, saw a car coming from the side of the cremation ground of Mothawala. Gurdeep, who was driving the car, tried to flee the scene, but the tyre of his car got stuck in a paddy field. The police claimed that he attempted to dispose of the narcotic capsules when he saw the police approaching his car. Gurdeep was eventually arrested and sent to jail under the NDPS Act.
Notably, the FIR in the matter was not registered on the day he was arrested but two days after the arrest. For two days, he was kept in illegal confinement. According to the court documents, Gurdeep was arrested on 24th June and the FIR was registered on 26th June. Interestingly, the capsules were sent for forensic analysis, and it was found that they contained paracetamol and not any narcotics. The report was sent to the police on 31st August 2024. However, it was only 19 days after the report was issued that Gurdeep was released on bail, and that too after the intervention of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
During the hearing, Gurdeep’s counsel argued that he was innocent and that the police arrested him only because he did not give way to the VIP vehicle coming behind him.
Court’s critique of police conduct
In the judgment, the court criticised the police for their high-handedness and delay in presenting the cancellation report. Justice Singh noted, “This is a case before this Court where, due to the high-handedness of the police authorities, the petitioner was subjected to prolonged incarceration for a period of about 13 days despite the fact that the recovery made from him was tablets containing the salt Acetaminophen (Paracetamol), and the concerned police authorities, despite having received the FSL report on 31.08.2024, failed to act promptly and get the petitioner immediately released/discharged in accordance with the law.”
The court added, “This Court is deeply troubled by the high-handedness of the police authorities, who have flagrantly disregarded the fundamental rights of a citizen as envisaged in the Constitution of India.” Notably, Singh was released on bail on 13th September 2024, only after the intervention of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
Court awards Rs 2 lakh compensation
Justice Singh directed the Punjab Government to pay compensation of Rs 2 lakh to Gurdeep. Notably, the court instructed the government to recover half of the amount from the salary of Sub-Inspector Rajinder Singh, who was the investigating officer in the matter.
The order read, “The State of Punjab shall pay compensation to the tune of Rs. 2,00,000/-, which shall be paid to the petitioner within a period of one month, and 50% of this compensation amount shall be recovered from the salary of the erring official, Sub-Inspector Rajinder Singh.”
Right to privacy maintained by the court
Furthermore, the court mandated the masking of the petitioner’s name in the Digital Court records related to the case. The move can be seen as an effort to maintain the Right to Privacy of the petitioner, noting that he was wrongly incarcerated.
