A local court on Friday slapped a fine of ₹5 lakh on the police for arresting the wrong person in a POCSO case in the Mangaluru district of Karnataka.
The District Second Additional FTSC POCSO Court announced the verdict and asked the Inspector of Police Revathi and Sub-Inspector of Police Rosamma PP to pay the fine amount from their salaries for arresting the wrong person of the same name as the accused and keeping him in judicial custody for almost a year, in a POCSO case.
The amount will be handed over to the victim as compensation.
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The judge ordered the Principal Secretary of the Karnataka Government's Home Department to take legal action against both police officers.
A person named Naveen was the accused in the case of rape of a minor that took place in the Mangaluru rural police station limit.
The victim girl had mentioned about accused Naveen in her statement before the magistrate and did not refer to the name as Naveen Sequera. According to the girl's statement, Sub-Inspector Rosamma P.P had registered a case under the POCSO Act against the accused named Naveen and handed over the further investigation to Police Inspector Revathi.
{{/usCountry}}The victim girl had mentioned about accused Naveen in her statement before the magistrate and did not refer to the name as Naveen Sequera. According to the girl's statement, Sub-Inspector Rosamma P.P had registered a case under the POCSO Act against the accused named Naveen and handed over the further investigation to Police Inspector Revathi.
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During the investigation, Mangaluru Rural Police Station ASI Kumar arrested Naveen Sequeira instead of the accused Naveen and produced him before the investigating officer.
Police inspector Revathi, who conducted the investigation, made a person named Naveen Sequeira an accused and submitted a charge sheet to the court.
The counsels who argued for the victim brought to the notice of the court that all documents submitted to the court mention the name of the accused as Naveen only. The age has been mentioned as 25 to 26 years.
It was brought to the notice of the court that the arrested Naveen Sequera's age is 47 years. The counsels argued that the police had arrested the wrong person and made him undergo judicial custody for one year.