The Madras High Court Bench here has imposed a cost of Rs. 5,000 each on two police personnel who failed to file a counter-affidavit despite the instructions of the court.
M. Silambarasan, a B.Tech. graduate and a resident of Anaiyur, filed a writ petition last year alleging that two senior-grade police constables, Prabhu and Rajesh, who were posted at Koodal Pudur police station, implicated him and his friend in a false case and harassed them.
According to Mr. Silambarasan, the two police constables had booked him and his friend Vimal under a false case of theft, detained them illegally and assaulted them physically. One of the constables, Prabhu, had asked the petitioner and his friends not to play cricket near his house.
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Because the youth did not obey the constables, they were implicated in a case of theft and took them into custody.
The petitioner further claimed that the constables had taken away Rs. 17,300 from his house, besides taking Rs. 3,200 from the two youth.
The sub-inspector of Koodal Pudur police station registered the FIR belatedly attracting offences under less serious offences, he claimed.
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Contending that there would not be a free and fair inquiry, he moved the court seeking Rs. 5 lakh as compensation for the illegal detention and prayed for directions to initiate departmental action against the two constables. The court had directed the two constables to file a counter-affidavit, but they failed to do so.
The inspector of Samayanallur Circle, in a counter-affidavit, said that the witnesses are yet to be examined in the case.
Justice K.K. Sasidharan directed the Inspector to file a report on the investigation on June 4. Flaying the constables for not complying with the court directions, the judge directed them to pay a fine of Rs. 5,000. The counter-affidavit will not be accepted until the amount is paid, he noted in his order. The case has been adjourned to June 4.