Punjab and Haryana High Court orders Police to compensate to a man for filing baseless FIR against him

The Punjab and Haryana Court recently directed the State Police of Punjab to pay ₹10,000 for compensation to a man against whom a baseless first information report (FIR) was filed in a drug case.

Justice Rajbir Sehrawat passed the order after noting that the arrested person (petitioner) had been harassed and made to bear expenses even before there was no any basis to file a complaint against him.

In the Court order, it was stated, “Since the FIR has been got registered even before creating a basis for that, and due to the FIR, the petitioner has been put to the harassment and expenses, therefore, the person, who got the said FIR registered against the petitioner without any basis is directed to pay a compensation of ₹10,000 to the petitioner within a period of four weeks from today.”

The Court was hearing an anticipatory bail plea moved by the petitioner, Pushpinder Kumar who had been booked for many offences under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (NDPS Act).

The Petitioner’s Counsel argued that the charges against him were purely baseless and were filed with malicious intent at the instigation of a Sub Inspector (SI), Surinder Kumar.

However, the counsel for State countered that the police had got some confidential information regarding the involvement in the trade of narcotic drugs and substances.

As a result, the police visited the petitioner’s residence but found that the house was locked, it was told to the Court. It was also acknowledged that nothing was recovered from the petitioner or his residence.

In light of the above facts, the Court held, “It can safely be construed that there is nothing to support the case of the prosecution, even as per the assertions of the police. As such, the petitioner deserves to be protected against his arrest.”

Though the Court did not quash the case, it nodded for the petitioner’s plea for anticipatory bill.

Advocate Ajay Pal Singh Rehan represented the petitioner while advocate Sandeep Singh appeared for the state.

Source: https://www.barandbench.com/news/litigation/punjab-and-haryana-high-court-directs-police-10k-compensation-man-baseless-fir