Police can't charge exorbitantly for escorting prisoner, rules Punjab and Haryana High Court

Saurabh Malik

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Chandigarh, March 15

When a convict moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court for a four-week interim bail for his wife’s delivery, little did he know that the order on the deployment of two armed guards to accompany him to the hospital will create financial troubles for him.

The Bench of Justice Sureshwar Thakur and Kuldeep Tiwari was told that the expenses were calculated on the basis of instructions on the charges to be imposed and recoverable from institutions and private persons seeking police security.

Rapping the respondent concerned for being completely unmindful, the Bench asserted the spirit of the order was to ensure that the personal liberty of the applicant-convict was not interfered with. But the respondent levied charges in pursuance to the instructions completely non-applicable to the prisoner. The charges were excessive and exorbitant, leading to untenably curtailing even the limited privilege assigned to him.

The Bench also made it clear that that the charges to be levied would be equivalent to the actual expenses incurred on transportation, board and lodging.

The case has its genesis in a HC order dated February 8. Grating interim bail, the Bench made it clear that the expenses towards the convict’s transportation, besides the armed guards accompanying him, would be borne by him. In addition, the expenses for the board and lodging of the armed guards would also be borne by him.

But the convict moved the HC again, disclosing the exorbitant expenses calculated by the state and other respondents for enforcing the court order. Taking a note of the contentions, the Bench directed the state counsel to place on record the relevant rules and instructions on the basis of which the calculation was made.

The instructions revealed that the same pertained to charges to be imposed and recoverable from institutions and private persons. The Bench added that a plain reading of the instructions made it clear that the rates on the deployment of armed guards were applicable to security being provided to institutions and private persons only upon requisitions made.