HC Fines Whitefield Police Officers Rs 3 Lakh for Illegal Arrest

The Karnataka High Court has imposed an exemplary cost of Rs 3 lakh on three Bengaluru police officers, including a sub-inspector at the Whitefield Police Station, for directing, permitting, or facilitating the illegal arrest of a petitioner.

Justice M Nagaprasanna declared the arrest illegal and directed that the penalty must be paid by the officers from their personal income rather than borne by the state exchequer. The officers pulled up by the court include the Investigating Officer, Sub-Inspector Sunil Kumar KR of the Whitefield Police Station, alongside an Assistant Commissioner of Police and a Deputy Commissioner of Police.

The case pertained to the petitioner, KN Mohan Reddy, who was listed as accused number two in a case and is an attesting witness to a Will that remains pending adjudication before a civil court.

According to court records, the Investigating Officer issued a notice dated August 25 under Section 35(3) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), directing Reddy to appear at the police station for investigation at 11 am on August 27. However, the police took Reddy into custody nearly 48 hours before he could either comply with or breach the notice.

Justice Nagaprasanna observed that the power to arrest does not constitute a licence to arrest, noting that the state cannot command compliance with one hand and extinguish the opportunity to comply with the other.

The court further noted that the records attributed responsibility not only to the Investigating Officer but also highlighted supervisory dereliction among those managing the police station. The bench held that superior officers cannot remain silent spectators while a subordinate treats statutory safeguards as dispensable paperwork, only to later seek shelter behind the individual acts of the investigating personnel.