Allowed

Sony a v. Superintendent of Police

Kerala HC6 Jul 2017WP(C)/10329/2017

Case brief

AI extract

What is this about?

The High Court of Kerala addressed a writ petition alleging illegal detention and harassment of the petitioner by police officials. The court held that averments not controverted by the police officers are deemed admitted, constituting misconduct.

What did the court decide?

The writ petition is allowed. The Director General of Police is directed to initiate disciplinary proceedings against respondents 3 and 4.

Sony a Vs Superintendent of Police — Writ and Judicial Review | Kerala HC (2017)

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IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM

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PRESENT:

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THE HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE ANTONY DOMINIC & THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE DAMA SESHADRI NAIDU

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THURSDAY, THE 6TH DAY OF JULY 2017/15TH ASHADHA, 1939

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WP(C).No. 10329 of 2017 (M)

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PETITIONER(S):-

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SONY.A., COORDINATOR, WEST COAST EDUCATIONAL TRUST, KAYAMKULAM, ALAPPUZHA – 690 502.

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BY ADVS.SRI.A.RAJASIMHAN SRI.K.NIRMALAN

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RESPONDENT(S):-

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1. SUPERINTENDENT OF POLICE OFFICE OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF POLICE, ALAPPUZHA – 690 559.

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2. CIRCLE INSPECTOR OF POLICE KAYAMKULAM, ALAPPUZHA – 690 502.

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3. MANJUDAS.M.M., SUB INSPECTOR OF POLICE, KAYAMKULAM POLICE STATION, ALAPPUZHA – 690 502.

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4. SURESH KUMAR ADDITIONAL SUB INSPECTOR, OFFICE OF THE CIRCLE INSPECTOR OF POLICE, KAYAMKULAM POLICE STATION, ALAPPUZHA – 690 502.

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5. KARNATAKA STATE OPEN UNIVERSITY MUKTHAGANGOTRI, MYSORE – 570 006, REPRESENTED BY ITS REGISTRAR

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R1 & R2 BY SR.GOVERNMENT PLEADER SRI.P.P.THAJUDEEN BY ADV. SRI.P.A.MOHAMMED SHAH

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THIS WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) HAVING BEEN FINALLY HEARD ON 06-07-2017, THE COURT ON THE SAME DAY DELIVERED THE FOLLOWING:

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WP(C).No. 10329 of 2017 (M)

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APPENDIX

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PETITIONER(S)' EXHIBITS :-

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EXHIBIT P1 TRUE COPY OF THE MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING DT. 27.06.2011.

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EXHIBIT P2 TRUE COPY OF THE NOTIFICATION DT. 08.08.2014. EXHIBIT P3 TRUE COPY OF THE JUDGMENT IN WPC.NO. 14654/2016 DATED 13.12.2016.

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RESPONDENT(S)' EXHIBITS :- NIL

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//TRUE COPY//

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P.A. TO JUDGE

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ANTONY DOMINIC, J. & DAMA SESHADRI NAIDU, J.

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W.P.(C) No.10329 of 2017

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Dated this the 6^th day of July 2017

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J U D G M E N T

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Dama Seshadri Naidu, J.

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The Controversy:

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Petitioner Sony is the Co-ordinator of the West Coast Educational Trust, said to be a “collaborative institution” of the 5^th respondent University. It imparts training in diploma programmes all over Kerala. Sony has approached this Court complaining of police brutality and also illegal confinement. He has arrayed two police officers in their personal capacity— eo nominee —as respondents 3 and 4. In the writ petition, especially in paragraph 7, he levelled grave allegations against those police officers:

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“Yesterday, i.e. on 23-3-2017 at 12.30 noon the 4^th respondent telephoned the petitioner and asked him and Director

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W.P.(C) No.10329 of 2017

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Anoop.S.Krishnan to report in the police station. Anoop.S.Krishnan is out of station and hence the petitioner went to the police station along [with] Advocate J.Renjith, Haripad and produced copy of Ext.P3 judgment. The same judgment was presented to the SI and CI several times during the last two months. But the 4^th respondent illegally detained the petitioner in the police station from 2 pm to 5 pm. He used most filthy words against the petitioner and ordered to pay compensation of Rs.3,00,000/- directly to the students and to get reimbursed from the high court later. He shouted that the 'those in the high court don't know what he can do'. He made personal remarks against the Director Mr.Anoop.S.Krishnan and his wife. He criminally intimidated the petitioner and threatened that the he will register false criminal case and will show what happened to the Chairman of Nehru College. At around 5 pm the 3^rd respondent SI arrived and he started his part of harassment. When the judgment was shown to him by the petitioner's lawyer Mr.J.Renjith, the 3^rd respondent sarcastically said that there is a mafia in the high court to get such judgments and he is well aware of the tricks in the high court. He then went on to make defamatory remarks against judiciary and lawyers making all others there to laugh with sarcasm. He then told the petitioner's lawyer that the trick of private complaint is unknown to those in the high court and threatened to teach everyone a lesson. The petitioner was ultimately released at 5.30 pm from illegal custody with an ultimatum to pay the compensation within two days. The 3^rd respondent asked the students why can't they ransack the institution. Thus he abetted the commission of an offence and anything can happen to the petitioner's institution at anytime.”

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Submissions:

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Petitioner’s:

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The learned counsel for Sony has submitted that initially

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Sony entered into the Ext.P1 MOU with the 5^th respondent

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University and established the Centre, as the activity undertaken by the University was valid then. Later, based on the Hon’ble Supreme Court’s judgment in Prof. Yashpal and Ors. v. State of Chattisgarh¹ , all the Universities offering distance education were directed to close their centres beyond their territorial jurisdiction, submits the learned counsel. Acting on the Supreme Court’s directive, the UGC issued guidelines to all the Universities. The 5^th respondent University, too, complied with those guidelines and issued Ext.P2 notification, stopping further admissions from 30.8.2014. In other words, it undertook to complete the courses of those students who had secured admission before that date.

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The learned counsel has further submitted that Ext.P2 notification did not interdict the earlier admissions. So, initially, the University permitted examinations for those students admitted before 30.8.2014. And it has led to a lot of litigation.

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1AIR 2005 SC 2026

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W.P.(C) No.10329 of 2017

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Eventually, this Court through Ext.P3 judgment,

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according to the learned counsel, issued certain directions to the 5^th respondent University. The University has adhered to them.

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To conclude, the learned Counsel has submitted that both

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the police officials have abused and threatened Sony and illegally detained him in the police station till evening, without ever bothering even to register a crime.

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University’s:

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The learned counsel for the 5^th respondent University, on his part, has submitted that the University has filed an appeal against Ext.P3 judgment.

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But as we gather, the judgment is still in force. We have also been informed that the 3^rd respondent — Sub Inspector has already been suspended for misconduct in some other cases.

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The Respondents’:

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8 . Suresh Kumar, the 4^th respondent individually and 2^nd respondent officially, filed a counter affidavit, said to be “for and

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on behalf of the 1^st and the 2^nd respondents.” As to the customary

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traversal clause in the counter affidavit, it runs thus: “3. All the averments and allegations in the writ petition except those which are specifically admitted hereunder or subsequently dealt otherwise.” No traversal.

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Suresh Kumar pleads that on 23.03.2017 a few youngsters came to the Kayamkulam police station with a complaint that they were cheated by Masaniyamman Institute. The students’ grievance is that even after their completing the course, they are not given their Diploma certificates. After joining the course in 2011, they completed it by 2014, by remitting Rs.3,00,000/- as course fee. Sony’s institute assured the students that it had been affiliated to Karnataka State Open University, the 5^th respondent.

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The students have complained that to their enquiries about the certificate, Sony, the co-ordinator, “showed a hostile and indifferent attitude and made so many excuses.” Later, the students learnt that the institute having affiliation with the 5^th respondent University, but the course offered by the petitioner's institute has no validity. So the gravamen of the complaint, as

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alleged by the police, is that the students had lost their precious

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time and money; they demanded the institute to issue them certificates or else to pay back their money. The students have further complained that “they were in fear as they apprehend threat from the part of the institution authority as they will implicate them in false criminal cases as the institute is run by some highly influential people.”

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Suresh Kumar further pleads that, to avoid any untoward incident or any law and order issues, he contacted the principal and Director of the petitioner's institute. Later a person

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came to the police station and met Suresh Kumar informing that he is a clerical staff of the institute.

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Nothing further is pleaded in the counter affidavit.

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Today at the Bar, the learned Government Pleader appeared for all the respondents: 1. The Superintendent of Police

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(first respondent), 2. Circle Inspector (2^nd respondent), 3. Manjudas M.M. Sub-Inspector of Police (3^rd respondent), and 4. Suresh Kumar, Additional Sub-Inspector (4^th respondent).

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Heard Sri A. Rajasimhan, the learned counsel for the petitioner, Sri P.P. Thajudeen, the learned Senior Government Pleader for the respondents 1 to 4, and Sri P.A. Mohammed Shah,

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the learned counsel for the 5^th respondent University.

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Discussion:

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To begin with, although the police officers had been arrayed as parties in their personal capacity and had grave allegations levelled against them, the 4^th respondent, who filed a counter affidavit has chosen to deny none of the allegations. And the 3^rd respondent has chosen not even to file any defence on his part denying the allegations.

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We refrain from commenting on the grievances said to have been complained about by the students. In a writ petition against the alleged police harassment, we do not intend to foreclose the legal options of either party to the controversy that stands on a different footing.

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The Course & The Judicial Directives:

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But the fact remains that earlier a few institutes like Sony’s and certain students filed writ petitions—in all 9 writ petitions—against the University. They have complained that the University has abruptly stopped its distance education courses and that many students who had joined when the courses were valid have been now stranded. The University defended its action asserting that it had simply acted on the UGC directive. This Court, through the Ext.P3 common judgment, examined the issue in detail.

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This Court has noticed the fact that, in the wake of the Hon’ble Supreme Court’s judgment in Prof. Yashpal , the University Grants Commission has directed the respondent University to restrict its area of operation within its territorial limits and that it will recognise none of the degrees offered by the University outside the State of Karnataka. The Court has also noted the later developments, including the plight of the students who joined the courses when the courses were ostensibly valid. It

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has also noted that the very UGC has permitted the Universities

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to complete the courses it offered before 30.08.2014. So, to

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safeguard the academic careers of many students, the Court in the Ext.P3 judgment issued these guidelines:

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“i) The petitioners in the above writ petitions shall have the list of students and the courses which they have attended with all particulars, and whose names appear in the list furnished prior to 30/08/2014, to the University within a period of one month from today. ii) On receipt of the same, University shall make alternate arrangements for the continued study of such candidates and if they have completed the course, arrangements shall be made for such students to write the examinations in any of the recognized colleges in the State of Karnataka.

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iii) If it is not possible for the University to continue the course or to permit the students to write the examinations, the University shall compensate such students by paying a sum of Rs.3,00,000/- (Rupees three lakhs only) each. iv) The benefit of the order shall be available only to candidates who are petitioners in any of the above cases.”

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The Complaint and the Controversy:

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Suresh Kumar in his counter affidavit asserted that he

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had received a complaint from the students and that it alleged of

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cheating. But, despite the opportunity given, he did not find fit to

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place the complaint before this Court along with the affidavit.

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We are prepared to believe that there was a complaint and disclosed a cognizable offence.

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Then we shall see what course of action was available to the police. To summon Sony or anybody associated with the institute, the police ought to have registered a crime. In Lalita Kumari v. Govt. of UP. , a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court has held that the registration of FIR is mandatory under Section 154 of the Code if the information discloses commission of a cognizable offence and no preliminary inquiry is permissible in such a situation. True, the Court has carved out certain exceptions, but it is nobody’s case—not even pleaded—here that the students’ alleged complaint fell under any of the exempted categories.

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Sony specifically pleaded that the institute and the University have been adhering to the guidelines issued by this Court in the Ext.P3 judgment. He has graphically pleaded the alleged abuse the police officials hurled at him, and the inhuman treatment meted out to him, not to speak of intemperate,

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contumacious comments about the judiciary. Even the allegation of illegal detention goes uncontroverted. The allegations, read as a whole, are grave and threaten to tear as under the fabric of rule of law, especially, by a public servant belonging to disciplined uniformed service—the Police.

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Despite the severity of allegations, strange as it may sound, Suresh Kumar did not deny them. And Manjudas maintained stoic silence and displayed an insouciant attitude. The Courts have repeatedly held that the writ jurisdiction is summary, and the adjudication is based on affidavits and material filed along with them. Absent trial, the parties must set out their claim and also meet the rival claim through proper pleadings and denials. Trite to observe that averments not controverted are deemed to have been admitted.² We may note with concern the practice adopted by the State in letting the Government Pleaders appear for the officials even when they have been arrayed eo nominee , and the very Government may, in

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2Naseem Bano v. State of U.P., AIR 1993 SC 2592

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course of time, have to investigate into those officials’ conduct

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coming in conflict with law. We hope the Government dispenses with such practice.

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In these circumstances, we hold that Sony’s institute, being a party to the Ext.P3 judgment, shall abide by the conditions set out in that judgment. If the students, on their part, have any grievance, they can seek their redressal through peaceful, legal mechanism. The police, we clarify, should neither detain nor call Sony or any other official of the institute in the name of investigation without registering a crime on a complaint disclosing cognizable offence.

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We further hold that the contumacious attitude and reprehensible conduct allegedly exhibited by the respondents 3 and 4 unfortunately remain on record uncontroverted. So the allegations are deemed to have been admitted by them. As a result, to assert and underline that the rule of law and the rule of law alone should prevail, but not individual hubris, we direct the Director General of Police to initiate disciplinary proceedings

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treating the writ petition as a complaint against the 3^rd and 4^th

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respondents, and take appropriate departmental action against them in accordance with law. The eventual orders to be passed in

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the domestic enquiry to be conducted shall be placed before this

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Court so that they become part of this case.