High Court Directs Punjab Police SI To Pay Compensation of Rs 10,000 To Accused For Lodging Drugs Case 'Without Any Basis'

The Punjab & Haryana High Court has directed a Punjab Police official, who got an FIR registered under under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act “without any basis”, to pay compensation of Rs.10,000 to the accused.“Since the FIR has been got registered even before creating a basis for that, and due to the FIR, the petitioner has been put to the harassment and expenses, therefore, the person, who got the said FIR registered against the petitioner without any basis is directed to pay a compensation of Rs.10,000/- to the petitioner within a period of four weeks from today,” said the bench of Justice Rajbir Sehrawat.The court was hearing an anticipatory bail plea of Pushpinder Kumar, who was booked under Sections 15, 18, 20, 21 and 22 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, at Police Station, City Hoshiarpur.The counsel for the accused, Advocate Ajay Pal Singh Rehan argued that the case against the petitioner is totally false and the same has been registered at the behest of SI Surinder Kumar, Police Station City Hoshiarpur with a mala fide intention.Kumar has been sought to be involved in the case only because of the earlier cases; which were fabricated in the same very manner against him, the counsel said.State counsel on instructions from SI Paramjit Singh submitted that "on a secret information to the effect that the petitioner was indulging in the business of narcotic drugs and substances, the police had gone to house of the petitioner. However, the said house was found locked. Therefore, the petitioner is involved in the offence."It was not disputed that nothing was recovered from the petitioner or from the alleged house.Considering the submissions, the court said, “it can safely be construed that there is nothing to support the case of the prosecution, even as per the assertions of the police. As such, the petitioner deserves to be protected against his arrest.”While allowing the pre-arrest plea, the Court said, “However, the petitioner shall join the investigation as and when called upon to do so and shall abide by the conditions as provided under Section 438(2) Cr.P.C.”Case Title: Pushpinder Kumar alias Pushpinder Singh alias Tinku v. State of PunjabCitation: 2023 LiveLaw (PH) 135Advocate Ajay Pal Singh Rehan appeared for the petitioner Sandeep Singh, Additional Advocate General for Punjab.Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (PH) 135Click Here To Read/Download Order

High Court Directs Punjab Police SI To Pay Compensation of Rs 10,000 To Accused For Lodging Drugs Case 'Without Any Basis'

Aiman J. Chishti

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