The Madhya Pradesh High Court on Tuesday observed that the arrest of three Congress IT cell workers and their subsequent transfer to Rajasthan prima facie appears to be a case of illegal police custody. The court directed the Bhopal police commissioner to treat their statements as formal complaints and initiate legal action.
Court's Directive
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva and Justice Vinay Saraf ordered that copies of the workers' statements, recorded before a judicial magistrate in Jabalpur as per the court's direction, must be forwarded to the Bhopal police commissioner. The commissioner has been instructed to treat these as formal complaints, take action under the law within three months, and submit a compliance report to the court. The next hearing is scheduled for June 18.
Background of the Case
The case originates from the arrest of three Congress IT cell workers—Nikhil, Bilal, and Inam—by Rajasthan police with assistance from Bhopal police last month. They were accused of uploading a fake letter purportedly issued by former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje Scindia regarding the Women's Reservation Bill.
One Khizer Khan filed a habeas corpus petition in the high court, alleging that the trio were held in illegal custody and taken out of the state without a transit remand. During the previous hearing, the workers were produced in court by Rajasthan police. The sequence of events narrated by the police differed significantly from the version given by the Congress workers and the petitioner, prompting the judges to direct the Chief Judicial Magistrate of Jabalpur to depute a judicial magistrate to record the statements of the three workers.
Rajasthan police had earlier informed the court that the three workers were neither arrested nor detained, but were merely accompanied to Rajasthan.
Court Proceedings on Tuesday
During Tuesday's hearing, Bhopal Crime Branch Sub-Inspector Pramod Kumar Sharma, Rajasthan ACP Balram Chaudhary, and other Rajasthan police personnel appeared before the high court.
