July 3rd, 2009
PTI
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Friday directed the Gujarat police to pay a compensation of about Rs 3 lakh to the family of a minor Muslim boy for detaining him in a lock-up for a week last year after suspecting him as an illegal Bangladeshi.
The court also slapped the police with a cost of Rs 25,000 for illegally picking him up from Delhi and detaining in a lock-up in Ahmedabad and also subjected him to mental torture for a week.
Describing the act of Gujarat police as violative of Article 21(right to life and liberty) and "shocking to the conscience of the court", a Division Bench headed by justice B.D. Ahmed and justice Ajit Bharihoke directed the police to pay Rs 2,70,000 as compensation to the mother of the 13-year-old boy within two weeks.
"The violation of Article 21 is patent and incontrovertible and it is of such a magnitude that it shocks the conscience of this court. In this case, the torture meted out to the petitioner's son was more in the nature of mental torture," said the Bench.
"He had no hope for future because he had nothing but fear in his mind. Fear of being deported to Bangladesh all alone, fear of being killed and...These all are clear indicia of mental torture," the Bench added.
