Jharkhand High Court Directs State To Pay Rs 5 Lakh Compensation To Man Who Spent 4 Months In Jail On False Murder And Rape Charges

The Jharkhand High Court has directed the State government to pay a compensation of Rs 5 lakh to a man who spent four months in jail in 2014 in a false case of murder and rape. The victim was later found to be alive.

The petitioner, Ajit Kumar was detained for four months from February to July in 2021 in a false case of murder and rape under Sections 376(D), 302, 201 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860. It was alleged that he had raped and killed a woman and then burnt her body

According to the petitioner's lawyer, Advocate Sumit Prakash, Kumar was falsely implicated in the case and he along with one other co-accused was subjected to severe torture during the detention. The police officials allegedly coerced him and his co-accused to confess to the crimes of rape and murder, the court was told. However, it was later discovered that the woman in question is alive.

Director General of Police, Jharkhand, Ranchi personally reviewed the case and took action against the three police officers involved. The investigating officer of the case, the then Officer-in-Charge of Bundu Police Station, and the then Officer-in-Charge of the Police Station Chutia Police Station were suspended, and departmental proceedings were initiated against them.

The central question before the court was whether compensation could be awarded to the petitioner under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, considering the circumstances of the case.

Justice Sanjay Kumar Dwivedi observed that it was evident that Kumar, who was a student, had been falsely accused and languished in jail for a period of four months.

The court unequivocally said that the entire prosecution initiated by the police against the petitioner was malicious, causing immense harassment and immeasurable anguish. This is not a case where the accused was kept under custody and, eventually, after trial, he is found not guilty but the State police on its own has submitted the final form as mistake of fact and the case has been found to be false, said the court.

"The liberty and dignity of the petitioner, which are basic to his human rights were jeopardized, as he was taken into custody and, eventually, despite all the glory of the past, he was compelled to face cynical abhorrence and this situation invites the public law remedy for grant of compensation for violation of the fundamental right, envisaged under Article 21 of the Constitution of India for saving the life command, self-respect and dignity," the court said.

The court concluded that the lackadaisical attitude of the State Police, leading to arbitrary arrest and unjustified custody, had subjected the petitioner to humiliation. 

"If the police officers had been little more careful in discharge of their duties, the petitioner would not have been deprived of his liberty. Police is the main stay of the Administration of the State. It has a duty to ensure that outlaws are firmly dealt with in accordance with law. But it must confirm to the rules of law and the mandate of the Constitution of India in its functions and if it would go beyond the law to do anything in the name of Administration, it would shake the very foundation of a Constitutional democracy. Thus, the case of the petitioner is maintainable under Article- 226 of the Constitution of India under the Public Law Remedy."

While allowing the petition, the court permitted the State to recover the awarded compensation from the salaries of the implicated police officers, whose actions had caused the petitioner's wrongful imprisonment. While acknowledging that no amount of compensation could fully restore the trauma and humiliation suffered by the petitioner, the court hoped that the compensation would serve as a consolation, enabling him to move forward with his life.

"The trauma, already faced by the petitioner as well as humiliation in the society that cannot be restored by way of said compensation, however, that compensation will console to the petitioner to forget the past and take the life onwards in future."

Case Title: Ajit Kumar vs. The State of Jharkhand W.P.(Cr.) No. 226 of 2014

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