Hearing a habeas corpus petition, the Allahabad High Court has observed that the civil liberties situation in UP is “shameful” and police have “little regard” for citizens’ fundamental rights.
The court added that the police appear to have little regard for the fundamental rights and civil liberties of citizens. It added that infringement of these rights seems to have become a matter of routine for the UP Police . The court also held that the police cannot use the excuse of CCTV malfunctioning in a case of alleged unlawful detention. The court further clarified that the excuse of a CCTV malfunctioning is not available to the police in a case of unlawful detention. The court added that any such explanation would be sufficient for it to accept the petitioner’s contention that the corpus had been unlawfully detained and that the CCTV footage was deliberately withheld to obfuscate the truth maliciously.
To ascertain the veracity of the allegations, the high court had earlier directed the state to produce CCTV recordings of the police station from 1 pm on September 5 till 10 am on September 7.
Taking serious note of the “excuse” of malfunctioning CCTVs whenever a court demands it, the bench, hearing a habeas corpus plea, said it would be sufficient to accept the petitioner’s contention that he had been unlawfully detained and that the CCTV footage was “deliberately withheld to obfuscate the truth maliciously”.
The court further directed the state to pay ₹ 20,000 as costs to him within seven days. A bench comprising Justice Atul Sreedharan and Justice Achal Sachdev allowed the habeas corpus writ petition and directed that the petitioner, Aausad Ahmad, be set at liberty forthwith, if he is not wanted in any other case.
