The High Court of Karnataka on Friday suo motu took cognisance of an incident in which police assaulted a young advocate inside the police station in Chikkamagaluru on November 30 night following an argument, which erupted after the police stopped his two-wheeler and took away the keys as the latter was not wearing a helmet.
A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Prasanna B. Varale and Justice Krishna S. Dixit passed the order by treating as a PIL petition, a letter written by the Advocate’ Association, Bengaluru (AAB), to the Chief Justice informing the ‘brutal attack’ on the advocate by the police.
Observing orally that “it is not a happy thing to happen in the State”, the Bench wondered “what would be the plight of a common man if an advocate could face such a brutality from the police.” The Bench, after noticing the injuries based the photographs produced before it, orally observed that the incidents reminds the scenes that used to occur on the streets of Uganda.
Advocate-General Shashi Kiran Shetty told the Bench said that senior officers had taken the issue seriously and an FIR was registered during the early hours of Friday based on the advocate’s statement by invoking Sections 506 (criminal intimidation), 341 (wrongful restraint), 307 (attempt to murder), 324 (voluntarily causing hurt using dangerous weapons), etc., of the Indian Penal Code.
Suspended
Mr. Shetty also said that six police personnel, Sub-Inspector of Police, Assistant Sub-Inspector of Police, and four police constables have been placed under suspension pending departmental inquiry.
The A-G, on instruction from Additional Director General of Police (Law & Order) R. Hithendra, who was personally present in the court, assured the Bench that Deputy Superintendent of Police, who has been entrusted with the investigation, will take necessary steps within the shortest possible time.
Advocate Preetam was stopped on Market Road in Chikkamagaluru by the police who forcibly took away the keys of his two-wheeler. When the advocate objected to this stating that he was prepared to pay the fine for not wearing helmet, the police took him to the station and locked him up in a room, where there was no closed circuit television cameras, and they beat him with lathis, sticks, and other material.
As news of the assault spread among members of the legal fraternity, the advocates gathered in front of the police station and resorted to a snap protest in the night. Mr. Preetam was taken taken to a hospital and given treatment.
Meanwhile, the Bench told AAB president Vivke Subba Reddy, who appeared before the Bench through videoconference from Chikkamagaluru, that advocates should not resort to extreme steps like abstaining from court proceedings as the government had assured quick action.
On the suggestion made by Vishala Raghu, chairman, Karnataka State Bar Council, and senior advocate S. Basavaraj for the court to pass judicial order for protection of advocates, the Bench said that it was not possible for the court to express any opinion or issue any direction as the Karnataka Prohibition of Violence against Advocates Bill, 2023, was pending consideration before the competent authority.
When Mr. Reddy and the other advocates raised question about the delay in arrest of accused police personnel despite invoking attempt to murder offence against them in the FIR, the Bench orally said the court cannot issue direction as it was prerogative of the investigating police officer to act as per the law.
