SC rules arrest of Gurugram man 'illegal', 'shocking'

Shocked to know that the Haryana Police handcuffed a man from Gurugram, chained him to a hospital bed and did not inform him about the grounds or reasons of 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 hospital 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 shall 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 order of August 30, 2024, 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 from his office at HUDA City Centre, Gurugram, and taken to DLF Police Station. He was allegedly produced before the Judicial Magistrate (in charge) at Gurgaon on June 11, 2024, 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 of India. 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 order.