Bombay High Court orders ₹2 lakh compensation to Nigerian national wrongfully detained for 2 years due to typo in forensic report

The Bombay High Court on Friday directed the Maharashtra government to pay ₹2 lakh as compensation to a Nigerian national who was wrongly incarcerated in a case under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act [Novafor Samuel Inoamaobi vs The State of Maharashtra]..Single-judge Justice Bharati Dangre had granted bail to the applicant on Wednesday after discovering that there was a typing error in the forensic analysis report of the seized substances.The matter was kept for hearing today for the Public Prosecutor to take instructions on whether there was a policy in place for compensating wrongfully detained persons. When it came up for hearing today, additional public prosecutor AA Takalkar informed the Court that that the State did not have any such policy in place. Justice Dangre took exception to this.“So you can keep people behind bars and not give compensation just because there is no policy? When it comes to depriving a person of fundamental rights, you require a policy?“ she asked.Justice Dangre told the State counsel to "pick up the phone" and take instructions from the government right away.After taking instructions, Takalkar informed the Court that State would initiate an enquiry against the officer, however no compensation would be granted for lack of policy..Justice Dangre questioned whether compensation could not be granted merely because there was no policy.She further questioned the need for an enquiry given that the concerned forensics officer himself had admitted that he had made an error.Takalkar stated that the accused had criminal antecedents and the same officer had prepared the report in the other case as well. She, therefore, contended that an enquiry was necessary to determine if the officer had been "planted."The Court, however, refused to accept the contention.“The officer says that he has made a mistake. After 22 months he realised his mistake and you want to say that the officer has been planted,” she questioned.The Court stressed that liberty is guaranteed to foreign nationals as well and not just to Indian citizens and directed the State to compensate the applicant within six weeks. “While releasing the Applicant on bail, as an exceptional case, I deem it appropriate to fasten liability for unlawful incarceration of the Applicant by the State Government and direct the State Government to compensate the Applicant by paying a sum of Rs.2 Lakhs within six weeks from today, reserving his right to claim compensation, by any other mode available to him,” it said.It also granted liberty to the State to conduct an enquiry and recover the amount from the guilty officers on conclusion of enquiry..[Read Order]