The Himachal Pradesh High Court today directed the state government to pay Rs 2 lakh as compensation to a man kept in illegal detention and to conclude within three months disciplinary proceedings against two IAS officers involved in the incident.
The orders were passed by Justice Rajiv Sharma while hearing a petition filed by Suresh Kumar, who challenged the powers of the SDM to order his arrest under sections 107/151 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
Kumar alleged his personal liberty was infringed upon as he was kept in custody for over 72 hours and his surety bond was not accepted.
IAS officers Siddhartha Acharya and B R Kamal have already been suspended on the court's orders on May 23.
The court today also directed the government to suspend and initiate disciplinary action within three months against Om Prakash, the then ASI at Saraswati Nagar police post, who was involved in arresting Kumar.
The Court further said the state government will be free to recover the compensation to be paid to Kumar from the two IAS officers and Om Prakash.
In the petition filed in the High Court, Kumar had alleged he had made several complaints to authorities regarding encroachment on 60 bighas of land by two residents of his village.
Though the encroachment was removed, Kumar alleged he was was implicated in a false case.
Following this, the then Sub Division Magistrate of Rohroo, B R Kamal, ordered Kumar's arrest on July 7, 2009. He was arrested three days later and the then Tehsildar, Jubbal Siddhartha Acharya, did not accept his surety bond.
Kumar was released on July 13, 2009 and proceedings against him were later dropped.
