PANJIM: The High Court of Bombay at Goa has imposed a penalty of Rs 30,000 on Police Inspector Kapil Nayak and Rs 10,000 on a police sub-inspector for “parading” a woman, who has been charged with abandoning her new born at Mapusa in August this year.
The court had taken suo motu cognizance of a news report published in a vernacular daily along with a photograph of the mother after her arrest for abandoning her new born third child. The court observed that PI Nayak and PSI Amin Naik appeared prominently in the photograph along with other police officials out of which at least four were in full police regalia (uniform).
“These police officials are seen standing in the photograph and the accused mother, is seen kneeling down before them. The names of the mother, along with the police officials appear quite prominently in the photograph published along with the news report. The police officials, including in particular Nayak and Naik are seen posing along with the mother, as if they are displaying some “trophy”. The photograph clearly conjures images of some erstwhile Maharajas or hunters posing with their trophy after a hunt. The photograph of the father also appears separately along with the news report,” the court stated.
The court had issued notices to the respondents to file their responses in the matter on August 30 wherein certain interim orders were also issued to ensure that proper care and protection is accorded not only to the allegedly abandoned child but also to the two other minor children, aged four and six years respectively, of the accused couple, who might have been left abandoned on account of arrest of their parents by the police.
During the hearing, Advocate General Devidas Pangam submitted that the State did not support actions of the police officials parading the accused mother before the print and electronic media. He had also referred to a note issued by the Inspector General of Police on January 16, 2015 prohibiting any officers below the rank of Superintendent of Police to interact with or brief the media on official matters without obtaining prior permission from the competent officer.
While disposing of the PIL (suo motu) on Tuesday, the division bench of Justices Mahesh Sonak and Nutan Sardessai directed the government and Director General of Police to ensure that police officials do not parade the accused persons before the print and electronic media or pose for photographs with accused persons in disregard of human rights, right to privacy and right to live with dignity of such accused person.
While imposing penalty on the two police officials, the court also directed the State to consider imposition of suitable penalty, proportionate to the role played by the Nayak in the incident in question and that some decision in this regard be taken within a period of four weeks. The court has called for a compliance report by January 6, 2020.
