The Bombay High Court, on Thursday, granted interim bail to a man detained by the Vasai-Virar police, allegedly assaulted by an assistant commissioner of police (ACP) from the Mira Bhayander–Vasai Virar (MBVV) unit. The court termed the man’s arrest at 3 am on November 5 to be prima facie “illegal”.
The HC passed the order while hearing a petition by Sunil Rathod, brother of Anil who was detained and alleged police brutality at the ACP’s office in a commercial ‘gala’. Since 2018, ACP Bajrang Desai’s office has been operating in a makeshift space among shops, after the original office was displaced due to the bullet train project.
The court observed that the absence of CCTV cameras at this office (not designated as a police station) where the interrogation took place indicated a “serious breakdown of checks and balances for accountability of the police.”
“Effectively, on the premise of a distinct space, without regarding it as a police station, it has become possible for police officers to completely work in the shadows outside the reach of CCTV cameras which are now a mandate of law,” a vacation bench of Justices Arif Doctor and Somasekhar Sunderesan said in a detailed 21-page order.
The bench directed the deputy commissioner of police (DCP) of MBVV to submit an affidavit addressing the lack of a designated safe space for interrogations. This affidavit must be personally vetted by the police commissioner. The DCP was also instructed to review the matter, scrutinise all available CCTV footage from the vicinity of the ACP’s Chandan Park office, and submit a detailed report within four weeks.
Rathod’s Advocate Nimay Dave argued that on November 4, Anil Rathod was severely beaten with sticks, a leather belt, and punches at the ACP’s makeshift office. Though released later that day, Rathod was allegedly re-arrested at 3 am on November 5 by plainclothes officers. The FIR in question, which accuses Rathod’s father of cheating and criminal intimidation, does not name Anil. Dave alleged that Anil was forced to implicate his father by admitting a debt of Rs3 crore to the complainant in the case.
The state’s lawyer noted that the investigation had been transferred to the Nalasopara police station, outside ACP Desai’s jurisdiction. The court, however, observed, “The arrest of the detenu prima facie appears to be illegal” based on medical evidence of injuries, allegations of torture, and inconsistencies in the police’s conduct. Interim bail was granted till December 10.
The court also took into account the medical records which confirmed injuries in Anil and said that the “notings in the case diary about apprehension of conspiracy to stall investigations on the basis of the alleged torture, the arrest of the detenu prima facie appears to be illegal”.
