The State Government has been ordered by the Madras High Court to compensate a woman who was wrongfully accused in a case under the Immoral Traffic Prevention Act of 1956 with Rs 2 lakh. The State could not escape its responsibility by asserting that the officers in question were not carrying out their official duties, as Justice R. Vijayakumar of the Madurai bench stated. The State’s argument that the charge sheet was dismissed as a result of a thorough investigation it undertook and that as a result it was not responsible for paying damages was also rejected by the court.
The woman’s arrest and incarceration received a lot of media attention, which the court said had an impact on her right to private. Hence, it said, the State was required to pay the woman’s damages.
The petitioner was detained in the current case as a result of a complaint made by a man named Sasikumar under different articles of the Immoral Traffic Prevention Act of 1956. She spent 13 days in custody at the Ladies Home in Madurai before being released on bail. After a thorough investigation by the District Crime Branch’s Deputy Superintendent of Police in Nagercoil, it was discovered that the case was brought against her because of tenancy problems and personal grudges held by private respondents. Sasikumar, the de facto complainant, also testified that he was not aware of the complaint and that the police had acquired his signatures on a blank piece of paper when he had attended the station in connection with a traffic infraction.
HARDIK SHARMA (B.COM LL.B, 4TH YEAR)
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