Detaining a national level bike racer at the station for several hours despite having bail proved costly for a police sub-inspector and his assistant. The Karnataka State Human Rights Commission, based on a complaint, found them guilty and directed the Home Department to pay a compensation of ₹1 lakh to the victim.
The commission also directed the department to recover the fine amount from the salary of the officials and initiate disciplinary action against the duo and submit the action taken report within a month.
The incident dated back to December 2022 in Pulakeshi Nagar, when the victim, Zubair Ali, and his brother Jabir Ali were involved in a civil dispute case. The duo had obtained bail from the 13th City Civil and Session Court and went to serve a copy of the bail to the station.
However, PSI, Ruman Pasha, and head constable R.K. Mulla allegedly detained Zubair Ali and locked him up at the station while his brother, Jabir Ali, walked out. Zubair, according to the complaint, was a national level bike racer and supposed to go to the US to attend an event. Due to the detention, he missed the flight.
Meanwhile Zubair’s sister, who visited the station, found her brother in the lock-up, recorded this on her mobile phone, and lodged a complaint with the KSHRC alleging high handedness and harassment by the police officials.
Based on the complaint, both the officials were summoned, during which they claimed that they were not aware of the bail at the time of detention.
However, the commission concluded that the police officials overreacted to the civil dispute case and did not honour the bail granted by the court. This amounts to dereliction of duty and misuse of power and hence termed guilty, the commission said.
Published – March 15, 2025 08:05 pm IST