2 weeks ago
Delhi Court Slams Gujarat Cops Over Minor’s Alleged Abduction
A court in Delhi considered a case involving four Gujarat police officers and a young boy.
The officers were looking for the boy’s father, who was wanted in a criminal case.
The boy’s mother said the officers took him from Delhi to Gujarat without permission.
She said the boy was abused and kept in custody.
The court said police should have searched for the father instead of taking the child.
It strongly criticized the officers’ alleged actions.
The officers argued that they were doing their official jobs.
The court said government permission was not needed to prosecute alleged acts unrelated to those jobs.
The court allowed the case against the officers to continue.
A Delhi court rejected a plea by four Gujarat Police officers accused of taking a minor boy from Delhi to Ahmedabad.
The court said the officers allegedly used the child as bait to force his wanted father to surrender.
The boy’s mother alleged that officers in civilian clothes forcibly took him from her scrap shop on May 25, 2008.
Prosecutors said the boy was confined, abused and beaten, including allegedly being held in a police lock-up.
The court ruled that official-duty protection could not cover acts lacking a reasonable connection to the officers’ duties.
- Who
- A Delhi court, four Gujarat Police officers, the boy’s mother and the minor boy were involved in the case.
- What
- The court rejected the officers’ plea challenging a trial court’s decision to take cognisance of an alleged kidnapping offence and frame charges.
- Where
- The boy was allegedly taken from Delhi to Ahmedabad, Gujarat.
- When
- The alleged incident occurred on May 25, 2008; the Delhi court’s ruling was reported in the article without a specific date.
- Why
- The officers were searching for the boy’s father, who was wanted in a case, but the court said taking and transporting the child was not reasonably connected to that duty.
Court and Prosecution’s View
Police Officers’ View
Taking the minor
Court and Prosecution’s View
The court said the officers’ duty was to find the father, not take the child into custody and transport him across state lines. The prosecution relied on allegations that the child was forcibly taken and mistreated.
Police Officers’ View
The officers maintained that they were searching for an absconding accused while performing their official duties.
Use of the child
Court and Prosecution’s View
The court said the officers acted like “colonial overlords” and used the minor as bait to make his father surrender.
Police Officers’ View
The officers challenged the criminal proceedings and did not accept that their conduct fell outside their official responsibilities.
Government sanction
Court and Prosecution’s View
The court ruled that protection for public servants could not cover an act with no reasonable connection to official duty, so prior government sanction was not a bar to prosecution.
Police Officers’ View
The officers argued that prior government sanction was required before they could be prosecuted because the allegations arose from their official duties.
Key facts
- Court
- Delhi court, presided over by Additional Sessions Judge Parveen Singh
- Accused
- Four Gujarat Police officers
- Alleged incident
- May 25, 2008
- Journey
- The minor was allegedly taken from Delhi to Ahmedabad, Gujarat
- Allegations
- Kidnapping, confinement, abuse and beating of the minor
- Officers’ argument
- They were performing official duties and required prior government sanction for prosecution
- Court’s reasoning
- Official-duty protection applies only when the alleged act has a reasonable connection to that duty
Quotes
Additional Sessions Judge Parveen Singh
Delhi court judge
“Their duty was to search for the accused who was the father of the minor and not to take the minor child in their custody and act like colonial overlords of the past and hang that minor child as a bait for his father to surrender before them.”
thehansindia.com
Sources
Related news
Delhi High Court Criticizes Police Over Selective Arrests
Gujarat Court Asks Transfer of Surat DCP Over Torture Videos
Mother Alleges Police Harassment Of Minor In Bhopal
High Court Orders Release of Minor Treated as Adult
Delhi Police orders zero tolerance for custodial violence against minors
Police Seek Extended Custody of IPS Trainee Uday Krishna Reddy
