Supreme Court Finds Gujarat Police Inspector and Judicial Officer Guilty of Contempt
- M.R Mishra
- Aug 8, 2024
- 1 min read
The Supreme Court on Wednesday found a Gujarat police inspector and a judicial officer guilty of contempt for arresting a person and placing him in police custody, in clear violation of a Supreme Court order from December 2023 which granted him anticipatory bail.
The bench, led by Justice BR Gavai, determined that RY Raval, the investigating officer from Vesu police station, and Deepaben Sanjaykumar Thakar, the additional chief judicial magistrate in Surat, had misinterpreted the Supreme Court's protection order. The court scheduled a hearing on September 2 to decide the punishment for their actions.
The case arose from a contempt petition by Tushar Rajnikant Shah, accused of cheating in a real estate transaction involving ₹1.65 crore. Despite the Supreme Court's order protecting him from arrest, Shah was detained on December 11 and released on bail the same day. He was subsequently summoned for a remand hearing and placed in police custody from December 13 to 16. The judicial officer’s actions were seen as biased and a misinterpretation of the court's protection order.
The Supreme Court criticised the judicial officer for her conduct, noting that her insistence on executing bail bonds and rejecting Shah's complaint of police torture without a medical examination showed a prejudiced approach.
The court stressed that judicial officers should not act as mere extensions of investigating agencies and must handle remand applications with care, particularly in cases where the allegations are of a civil nature and do not necessitate custody.
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