The Madras High Court was informed on Monday that the Director General of Police (DGP) has issued a circular instructing all his subordinate officials to conduct themselves properly inside court halls. The circular was issued pursuant to suo motu contempt of court proceedings initiated against three police personnel.
Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice P.T. Asha initiated the proceedings against inspector Munisweeran attached to the Singanallur police station in Tiruppur district, head constable Robert and police driver Velan for attempting to arrest an accused inside a judicial magistrate’s court in Tiruppur on April 10.
In a letter written to the High Court’s Registrar General, through Chief Judicial Magistrate S. Jeganathan, judicial magistrate D. Kaviarasan said an accused, G. Santhosh, had surrendered before his court on April 10 in connection with a criminal case pending against him in the Singanallur police station.
The magistrate accepted the surrender and made the accused to wait in the court hall for remanding him to judicial custody.
However, the escort police did not arrive till afternoon. In the meantime, the three policemen entered the court hall in civil dress and forcefully dragged the accused when the court was in session.
“I noticed the situation and was shocked. Yet, the police personnel managed to drag the accused nearly 50 feet from my court until the advocates interfered and prevented the unlawful activities of the police. The court work was affected for about 15 minutes because of this incident. Thereafter, I remanded the accused to judicial custody,” the magistrate said.
‘Serious issue’
When his letter was placed before Justices K. Ravichandrabaabu and V. Bhavani Subbaroyan, the portfolio judges of Tiruppur district, the former remarked: “The contents of the letter are very serious and if they are found to be true, the conduct of those police personnel is to be viewed as criminal contempt. They have interfered with the administration of justice in a daring manner. Hence, I am of the view that this matter may be placed before My Lord, the honourable Chief Justice for appropriate action.” Similarly, Ms. Justice Subbaroyan wrote: “The police personnel had trespassed into the court hall... and disturbed court work. It has to be dealt with iron hands.”
However, Additional Advocate General C. Manishankar brought it to the notice of the first Division Bench that the inspector as well as the driver were standing outside the court hall and it was only the head constable who went in to arrest the accused without knowing that he had surrendered before the court.
“The inspector and driver rushed into the hall only after hearing the commotion,” the AAG said and submitted affidavits filed by all three police personnel tendering their unconditional apology.
After recording the submissions of Additional Advocate General C. Manishankar, the Bench held that the act of the head constable contumacious, and fined him ₹500.
