New Delhi: The Allahabad high court on Thursday, August 18 sentenced an officer of the Uttar Pradesh police to 14 days in prison for contempt of court after he was found to have deliberately acted against the precedent set by the Supreme Court that arrest should be the exception.In the landmark Arnesh Kumar vs Bihar verdict, the apex court had ruled that arrest should be the exception in cases in which the punishment for the crime is less than seven years imprisonment. In lieu of arrest in such cases, the accused should be served a notice for appearance under Section 41A of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).It was also ruled that arrests in such cases can be made in exceptional circumstances, but the reasons for the same must be recorded in the police’s general diary (GD).Also read: SC Tells Centre to Enact Law to Stop ‘Unnecessary’ Arrests, Creation of a ‘Police State’The bench of Justices Suneet Kumar and Syed Waiz Mian, in the present instance, was hearing the case of the station in-charge of the Kanth police station in Shahjahanpur district, Chandan Kumar.While Kumar had recorded that he had served notice to the accused under CrPC Section 41A, he also recorded in the GD that the accused had refused to accept the terms and conditions of the notice. Kumar went so far as to say that since the accused belonged to the Muslim faith, there was an apprehension that communal riots may ensue if he was not arrested.The court, however, refused to entertain this explanation, noting that the GD had no entry which expressed apprehensions of communal riots if the accused was not arrested. Moreover, no such apprehension could be seen since no first information report (FIR) had been registered in the case until higher authorities intervened.As such, the court held that Kumar had deliberately acted against the guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court in Arnesh Kumar.“The misleading entry in the GD was made willfully and deliberately with the sole purpose to bypass the mandate in Arnesh Kumar, in order to arrest the accused. The contemnor, in the circumstances, has circumvented the mandate which was binding upon him,” LiveLaw quoted the bench’s order as saying.The court also refused to grant Kumar any leeway in the sentencing, noting that it would not be in the public interest to do so, nor would it serve the administration of justice.“The approach of the contemnor has been casual, thereby, imposing himself over and above the law. The contemnor being a member of the disciplined force is bound to comply the mandate of law, breach thereof would entail civil and criminal consequence. The apology tendered is qualified and guarded to escape the proceedings,” the court said.Kumar was, therefore, ordered to undergo 14 days of simple imprisonment and pay a fine of Rs 1,000 for contempt of court.The sentence was, however, kept in abeyance for a period of 60 days as Kumar’s counsel said that his client would prefer an appeal under Section 19 of the Contempt of Court Act, 1971.
