Offenders File Frivolous Petitions Against Police Officers To Escape From Clutches Of Law, Serious Action Warranted: Madras High Court

The Madras High Court recently imposed Rs. 35K cost on a litigant for filing false case against Police personnel. Rs. 5 thousand will be paid to each of the seven police officers impleaded in the proceedings.Justice SM Subramaniam observed that there is a recent trend of filing petitions against police officers without any substance and such practice should never be tolerated.Whenever the police officials initiate actions under law and by following the procedures, in order to escape from the clutches of law, these offenders are filing writ petitions against the police officials with false allegations and such allegations if found to be false or not substantiated or proved, then serious actions are warranted.Observing that the present petition was filed almost 5 years ago, the court added that keeping such petitions pending for long years would cause mental agony to the field officers and thus, the courts should ensure that such frivolous cases are disposed of soon.High Court, while exercising the power of judicial review, if found that there is no prima facie case for admission, it is to be heard as expeditiously as possible. Keeping such writ petitions pending for long years would cause prejudice to the interest of the field level Police officials and the pendency would also to be a concern for them and sometimes it may affect their service benefits also.In the present case, the petitioners had sought directions to the Director General of Police to take disciplinary action against police officers.The respondents, however, submitted that the petitioners were running an Orphanage Home in an illegal manner. Actions were initiated against the petitioners on a complaint regarding missing of a minor child. The child was later rescued and handed over to the mother. The respondents also submitted that though the petitioner's son had approached the State Human Rights Commission, the commission dismissed the petition which showed that there was no human rights violation.Agreeing with this submission, the court opined that the case was filed without any justification. The petitioners also failed to establishe even a semblance of legal right for the purpose of considering the relief. Thus, the court disposed of the petition with direction to deposit costs.Case Title: M Kala and another v. The State of Tamil Nadu and othersCitation: 2022 LiveLaw (Mad) 477Click here to read the judgment

Offenders File Frivolous Petitions Against Police Officers To Escape From Clutches Of Law, Serious Action Warranted: Madras High Court

Upasana Sajeev

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