HC reserves verdict on govt's handcuff plea

The Orissa High Court today completed hearing and reserved its verdict on a petition by the state government seeking to allow the police to handcuff arrested mafia Dhalasamant brothers during their transit on police remand.
The single-judge bench of Justice B K Nayak reserved his verdict on the application of the state government after completion of arguments from both sides.
The Dhalasamant brothers - Sushil and Sushant were arrested last month for their alleged involvement in abduction and murder of two of their former associates.
Police have taken the two on remand for 19 days in three phases and each time a lower court here has rejected the police plea to handcuff them.

Challenging the lower court order, the state government had approached the HC to allow the police to handcuff the accused persons.
The government had relied on Rule 241 of Orissa Police Rules on 'Restraint of Prisoners' in which it has been left to the discretion of the dispatching officer to restrain a prisoner by handcuffing if he makes an attempt to escape.

However, opposing the petition, both the brothers through their advocate during the day, urged the HC to dismiss the government plea and affirm the lower court's decision as it was neither illegal nor against the law.
Appearing for the brothers, their advocate Soura Chandra Mohapatra cited several judgments of the Supreme Court in which it had restrained the police and jail officials from handcuffing the prisoners.

Mohaptra also pointed out that Orissa Police Rules is not an enactment but a set of administrative instructions to police personnel and is no more in operation in view of the laws laid down by the Supreme Court on the issue in 1980.