SI awarded Rs 5 lakh compensation for humiliation, illegal detention

The Madras High Court Thursday ordered a compensation of Rs 5 lakh to a sub-inspector for being illegally detained and humiliated by his superior. A division bench of the court's Madurai bench, comprising justices S S Sundar and C Saravanan, issued the order based on SI V Kumaravel's plea that he was in uniform when he was illegally detained for 30 minutes on August 1, 2000.

Moreover, the DIG report revealed that a criminal case registered against Kumaravel was motivated, and was done at the instance of police officer John Rose, he submitted. The judge said the illegal detention of an SI in uniform was definitely an act of humiliation.

The SI was also humiliated when he had gone to the Virudhunagar SP office to complain about his frequent transfers by officer John Rose, then an ADSP. The SP's driver did not let him meet the officer, and there was a heated exchange.

A charge memo was issued for shouting at the driver and he was detained. Kumaravel sought a compensation of Rs 1 crore for the purpose of uplifting his social and departmental credibility.

The petitioner contended that the criminal case was foisted against him, and was withdrawn later. The court said the report of superior officers also helped the petitioner's case as they said that he was illegally detained.

The bench said that it could not, however, accept the demand of the petitioner for a compensation of Rs 1 crore but was of the view that the petitioner was entitled to Rs 5 lakh as compensation. The government can fix the liability by proceeding against John Rose departmentally, it added.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)