Justice P.D. Rajan of the High Court of Kerala on Tuesday held that sanction was not required for initiating criminal proceedings against police personnel who were not in charge of maintaining public order.
The Judge made the observation while dismissing a petition filed by B. Harikumar, suspended sub-inspector, Nedumungad, challenging a criminal proceedings initiated against him under the provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Schedule Tribes Prevention of Atrocities Act.
The court observed that it was clear that the persons in charge of maintenance of public order were protected and not the person in charge of maintenance of law and order.
The judge said the benefits of Section 197(2) and (3) of the Criminal Procedure Code (Sanction) were not available in the petitioner’s case.
Plea for early release A writ petition was filed on Tuesday by a convict who had been transferred from a Sri Lankan jail following a bilateral agreement with the country, seek his release from the Central Prison, Viyur.
According to the petitioner, Patani Aharaf, he arrived from Sri Lanka in 2013 after a bilateral agreement between India and Sri Lanka on the transfer of sentenced convicts came into force .He was convicted by a Sri Lankan court on a charge of drug trafficking.
The petitioner said that he had completed 14 years imprisonment.
