Kerala High Court has observed that offence of using assault to deter public servant cannot be invoked simply because the policeman was wearing his uniform. The bench of Justice PV KunhiKrishnan granted bail to the applicants who were accused of assaulting the complainant, a police officer, who was not discharging his duty when he was attacked.
The case is that the complainant, Circle Inspector of Police, Backel Police Station had come to the High Court in connection with an enquiry being conducted against him. The enquiry was based on an incident where one of the accused in this case, a lawyer, was ill treated after taken in custody. After the enquiry, on his way out of the High Court premises, by the Police Officer, the lawyers including the petitioners formed an unlawful assembly, committed riot armed with deadly weapons, hurled abuses at him and assaulted him.
The counsel or the petitioner argued that the only non-bailable offence was section 353 (Assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) of IPC which is not made out. He argued that section 353 was invoked with a malafide intention to implicate the lawyers in non-bailable offence.
The court observed that to attract Section 353 IPC, one of the main ingredients is that the assault or criminal force should be to deter the public servant who was discharging his official duty. “At no stretch of imagination, it can be said that the defacto complainant was in lawful discharge of his duty as a public servant, at the time of the alleged incident. Simply because he is in uniform, Section 353 IPC will not attract,” the court held.
The court found some force in the argument of the petitioners that Section 353 IPC is added just to implicate lawyers in non-bailable offence and opined that superior officers should look into this matter and take appropriate action in accordance to law.
The court thus allowed the bail application on executing a self bond for Rs. 50,000.
The order may be read here:
Related:
Preventive detention is “jurisdiction of suspicion”: Kerala HC
Release prisoner arrested due to mistaken identity, pay 3 lakhs compensation: NHRC to UP gov’t
J&K admin terminates gov’t employees in interest of “security of the state”