Police can't curtail freedom of citizen for highlighting corruption by member of ruling party: Calcutta High Court

The Calcutta High Court recently observed that the police cannot curtail a citizen's freedom merely because they protested or highlighted corruption by a ruling party member. [Sarika Khatun v. State of West Bengal & Ors].Justice Amrita Sinha observed that prima facie, the act of detention and arrest of the person concerned is sheer high-handedness on the part of the police."Only because a citizen has protested or has raised his voice to highlight the illegalities or corruption by a member of the ruling dispensation and against the member of the Legislative Assembly, the police ought to have taken such stringent steps to curtail the freedom of the said citizen. Fundamental right of a citizen of this country to move about freely ought not to be curtailed without abiding the due process of law."Consequently, the Court ordered the immediate release of the detained man..The wife of the man had moved the High Court after her husband was arrested by police officers from the Shibpur Police Station on June 30, based on a complaint lodged two days prior. He was arrested for failing to accept a notice issued under Section 41(A) of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), which directed him to appear at the police station on July 1..It was alleged that the petitioner's husband had made comments against a member of the ruling party, who is also a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA). Thereafter, a case was registered for defamation against the man.Appearing for the State, the Advocate General argued that the man was produced before the magistrate and was presently in judicial custody..On the date of arrest of the petitioner's husband, the Court said,"The act of the police in fixing the date of appearance on 1st July, 2024, but arresting him on 30th June, 2024 on the date the notice under Section 41A of the CrPC was issued, appears to be over-jealous act of the police officer."The Court eventually directed the police to immediately release the man.Given the dispute regarding the place of arrest, the Court directed that the CCTV footage of the police station from June 30 be preserved and produced when requested.The matter will be heard next on July 10..Advocate Sabyasachi Chatterjee, Pintu Karar, Sayan Banerjee, Kiron Sk and Ramij Munshi appeared for petitioner.Advocate General Kishore Datta and Senior Advocate Amitesh Banerjee, along with Advocates Debangshu Dinda, Sabnam De Bardhan, S Mitra, Sayan Dutta, Soma Chakraborty and Suvodeep Moitra appeared for the State..[Read Order]