'Jail Is Jail': Kerala High Court Asks State To Pay ₹2.5 Lakhs To Two Persons Falsely Implicated & Detained For Over 50 Days

The Kerala High Court on Tuesday asked the State government to pay an amount of Rs. 2.50 lakhs each to two persons who were falsely implicated in Abkari cases and thereby confined for over 50 days.Justice P.V. Kunhikrishnan observed that if it is subsequently found that confinement was illegal and the person was falsely implicated, it is a clear case of infringement of the fundamental right guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution and that in such situations, the Court should step in and compensate the aggrieved party."A man in jail alone will know the trauma faced by him. Even if the jail is constructed with beautiful walls and contain a good atmosphere, it is not a consideration at all for fixing compensation, because jail is always jail."The petitioners were arrested and in confinement for more than 50 days in connection with two separate Abkari cases. They were subsequently found to be innocent and were exonerated by the investigating agency by filing subsequent reports before the Court concerned.Advocates Sabu George and R.Reji appeared for the petitioners and sought compensation from the State for the infringement of their fundamental rights under Article 21. They argued that the petitioner's personal liberty was illegally restrained by the officials of the State and in such circumstances, the State is bound to pay compensation to the petitioners.However, Senior Government Pleader Deepa Narayanan asserted that the State was not responsible for paying compensation to the petitioners because it was only a dereliction of duty on the part of certain excise officials and that appropriate disciplinary proceedings were already taken against them. Moreover, the Government Pleader submitted that the Court may not entertain such petitions under Article 226 since the State may not be able to adduce evidence to substantiate their case and added that petitioners should file a suit before the Civil Court so that both parties will get an opportunity to adduce evidence.Advocates H.B.Shenoy, Mathew B. Kurian and C.Unnikrishnan appeared for the other respondents. The Court noted that it is a settled position that when the infringement of the fundamental right is established, the Constitutional Court should not stop by giving a mere declaration; it must proceed further and provide compensatory relief, not by way of damages as in a civil action but by way of compensation under the public law jurisdiction for the wrong done due to breach of public duty by the State for not protecting the fundamental right to the life of the citizenFurther, Article 9(5) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966 states that anyone who has been the victim of unlawful arrest or detention shall have an enforceable right to compensation. Although India has not endorsed this Covenant, the Judge noted that the apex court had approved the above right in a catena of decisions.In the present case, it was clear that the enquiry officer had implicated the petitioners falsely. In such circumstances, it was held that no further evidence was necessary to determine a violation of Article 21. Since it was clear that Article 21 was infringed in these cases, Justice Kunhikrishnan found that the State is bound to pay compensation to the petitioners and that the same should be recovered from the persons responsible for the illegal confinement, adding that the tax-paying citizens should not be burdened with this liability. Regarding the quantum of compensation, the Court said that it should be fixed considering the facts and circumstances of each case. It was also found that the compensation cannot be fixed in tune with the mental trauma faced by the petitioners in these cases through money.Mahatma Gandhi shared his jail experience in these words: "Men in prison are "civilly dead" and have no claim to any say in policy". Nelson Mandela, the great fighter against apartheid, described his prison life in the following words: "No one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jail. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones". An American journalist by the name of Mumia Abu Jamal said the following about his prison life: "Prison is a second-by-second assault on the soul, a day to-day degradation of the self, an oppressive steel and brick umbrella that transforms seconds into hours and hours into days."Therefore, the State was directed to pay an amount of Rs.2,50,000/- each to the petitioners and the petitioners were granted the liberty to approach the competent civil court if they were entitled to more compensation in the peculiar facts and circumstances of the cases.Significantly, the Court also addressed a serious question concerning the search, seizure, arrest etc: in abkari cases in the State and opined that the State Government should take serious note of the same. This Court while hearing criminal appeals against conviction and sentence...

'Jail Is Jail': Kerala High Court Asks State To Pay ₹2.5 Lakhs To Two Persons Falsely Implicated & Detained For Over 50 Days

Hannah M Varghese

The Court also asked the State to revisit the manner of search, seizure & investigation conducted in Abkari cases.

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