Highlights
- Ningaraju N, a resident of Karnataka's Bengaluru was mistakenly arrested by Karnataka Police.
- He has been compensated with Rs 5 lakh for the wrongful arrest.
- HC said there is a violation of the fundamental right in this case.
Karnataka wrongful arrest: Ningaraju N, a resident of Karnataka's Bengaluru was mistakenly arrested over a confusion over his name. The 56-year-old has been compensated with Rs 5 lakh for the wrongful arrest. A resident of Kalidasa Layout, he approached the High Court claiming that in the criminal case filed in 2011, the alleged accused Raju NGN was not him.
Quashing the case against him, the HC said, “It is rather shocking that a person has been arrested without ascertaining whether he was the person who was required to be arrested and that the warrant had been issued against him.” Justice Suraj Govindaraj in his judgment dated July 7 noted that “his identification was not cross-checked and verified, resulting (in) an innocent person being arrested.” Ningaraju was arrested because the name of his father (Ningegowda) was similar to the name of the person named in the warrant.
The HC said that the Right of Life and Liberty guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution is paramount and there is a violation of the fundamental right in this case.
The court said the state was liable to compensate the arrestee for having put him through loss of liberty as also loss of reputation. The compensation was fixed at Rs 5 lakh which the court said was payable within eight weeks.”
“I’m unable to comprehend as to how the name of the father being similar or even identical would have any role to play in the arrest, extrapolating the same logic if the arrest warrant has been issued for one brother, another brother or maybe even the sister could be arrested, merely, because the father name is identical.”
Ningaraju was arrested on the wrong assumption that he was the ex-director of the Ms India Holiday (Pvt) Ltd, which was under liquidation. The HC will hear the matter again on September 1 to assess the compliance of the directions.
(With PTI Inputs)
