Violation of Arnesh Kumar guidelines: Telangana High Court holds four police officials guilty of contempt of court

The Telangana High Court on Monday sentenced four police officials, including one Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, to four weeks imprisonment for contempt of court [Jakka Vinod Kumar Reddy v AR Srinivas, Deputy Commissioner of Police]..Justice G Radha Rani passed the order on finding that the officials were in wilful disobedience of the Supreme Court’s judgment in the case of Arnesh Kumar v. State Of Bihar.“The directions of the Hon’ble Apex Court (in Arnesh Kumar) are binding and must be obeyed by all concerned in strict sense”, the single-judge stated..It was held that the contemnors had violated the top court’s guidelines for issuing a notice of appearance, in terms of Section 41A of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), to the accused within two weeks from the date of institution of the case.“Violations, which are likely to infringe upon the faith of the public in administration of justice and the court system must be punished, to prevent repetition of such behaviour and the adverse impact on public faith,” the High Court underscored. .It also directed the Commissioner of Police and State of Telangana to initiate disciplinary action against the contemnors for violating the guidelines in Arnesh Kumar..The petitioner had moved the High Court alleging that the police had issued a Look Out Circular (LOC) and sought Non-Bailable Warrants (NBW) against the petitioners without issuing a notice under Section 41A of the CrPC and this constituted wilful violation of the law declared by the Supreme Court.It was their contention that in a case relating to the offence of cruelty and offence under the Dowry Prohibition Act, the malafide LOC and falsely procured NBWs resulted in the petitioner being subjected to acute humiliation in their social circles..It was also submitted that the contemnors were robbing the petitioners of their dignity and their personal liberty and their freedom to visit their birth country was curtailed.Therefore, the petitioner urged the court to hold the police liable in order to deter errant police officials who did not confer to the guidelines..On examining the submissions, Justice Radha Rani found the contemnors guilty since issuance of an LOC or NBW, without any notice or giving the petitioners an opportunity to prove their bonafides was in violation of the guidelines of the Supreme Court.“I hold that the respondents had wilfully disobeyed the judgment of the Hon’ble Apex Court and therefore, they are liable to be punished for contempt of court,” the order recorded..With this, all four respondents were sentenced to four weeks imprisonment with a fine of ₹2,000 each. However, the sentence was suspended for six weeks to enable them to file appeal..Senior Advocate Diljit Singh Ahluvalia along with advocate Mogili Anaveni appeared for the petitioner while the respondents were represented by advocate Shyam S Agarwal..[Read Order]