Supreme Court ‘shocked’ at police chaining Gurugram man to hospital bed

Shocked to know that Haryana Police handcuffed a man from Gurugram, chained him to a hospital bed and did not inform him the reason for his arrest, the Supreme Court has declared his arrest as illegal and ordered his forthwith release.

“The state of Haryana shall issue guidelines/departmental instructions to the police to ensure that the act of handcuffing an accused while he is on a hospital bed and tying him to the bed is not committed again,” a Bench of Justice AS Oka and Justice N Kotiswar Singh ordered.

The Bench directed the state government “to ensure that the constitutional safeguards under Article 22 are strictly followed. If necessary, the state government would amend the existing rules/guidelines.”

The top court directed that a copy of the judgment be forwarded to the Haryana Home Secretary for compliance.

Setting aside the Punjab and Haryana High Court's August 30, 2024 order refusing to set aside the “illegal arrest” of accused Vihaan Kumar, the Bench referred to the “shocking” treatment given to him by the police.

Kumar was arrested on June 10, 2024 at about 10.30 am on his office premises at HUDA City Centre, Gurugram, and was taken to DLF Police Station, Section 29, Gurugram. He was allegedly produced before the Judicial Magistrate (in charge) at Gurugram on June 11 at 3.30 pm.

Therefore, there was a violation of Article 22(2) of the Constitution and Section 57 of the Code of Criminal Procedure Code, 1973. The allegation is that neither in the remand report nor in the order dated June 11, 2024 passed by the magistrate was the time of arrest mentioned, it was alleged.

“Before we part with this judgment, we must refer to the shocking treatment given to the appellant by the police. He was taken to a hospital while he was handcuffed and was chained to the hospital bed. This itself is a violation of the fundamental right of the appellant under Article 21 of the Constitution. The right to live with dignity is a part of the rights guaranteed under Article 21. We, therefore, propose to direct the state government to issue necessary directions to ensure that such illegalities are never committed,” it said in its February 7 verdict.