High Court of Jharkhand Raises Compensation to ₹5 Lakh for Man Wrongfully Detained and Tortured by Garu Police Station, Orders Recovery from Erring Police Officials
W.P.(Cr.) No. 509 of 2022
By Navya Tiwari
In a strong rebuke to police excesses, the High Court of Jharkhand directed the State to pay enhanced compensation of ₹5 lakh to Anil Kumar Singh, who was illegally detained, assaulted, and confined for three days by police officials in Latehar district.
The Court noted that the State itself admitted that Singh had been mistakenly taken into custody by police personnel from Garu Police Station and was subjected to custodial torture despite there being no material against him. He was eventually released after the police realized that he was not the person they intended to apprehend.
Justice Ananda Sen observed that the conduct of the police officials was arbitrary and amounted to a grave misuse of power. The Court found the initially sanctioned compensation of ₹50,000 grossly inadequate considering the unlawful detention and physical torture suffered by the petitioner.
Emphasizing that the police had “taken law into their hands,” the Court enhanced the compensation to ₹5 lakh and directed the State to make payment within two weeks. Importantly, the Court further ordered that the amount paid by the State must subsequently be recovered from the police officials responsible for the illegal custody and torture within two months.
The Court also recorded that a chargesheet had already been filed against Sub-Inspector Ranjit Kumar Yadav and other police personnel involved in the incident. Directions were additionally issued to inform the Accountant General and the Director General of Police, Jharkhand, regarding compliance with the order.
