E-Paper
‘It might work in UP, won’t work here’: Delhi high court pulls up state police
A single-judge bench of Justice Mukta Gupta said, “Illegal kaam Delhi mein nahin chalega (Illegal acts will not be allowed in Delhi),” as it took strong exception to UP Police not intimating Delhi Police and completely ignoring that both the man and the woman were consenting adults.
The Delhi high court on Thursday severely reprimanded the Uttar Pradesh Police for arresting the father and brother of a man from the national capital after he married a woman against her family’s wishes.
A single-judge bench of Justice Mukta Gupta said, “Illegal kaam Delhi mein nahin chalega (Illegal acts will not be allowed in Delhi),” as it took strong exception to UP Police not intimating Delhi Police and completely ignoring that both the man and the woman were consenting adults.
The bench also questioned how the police team showed the arrest from a village in UP and said it would examine the CCTV footage from the area to get to the truth.
“Ye kaam na yahan nahi chalega. Illegal kaam koi bhi Delhi me nahin chalega ki aap aaye aur Delhi se log uthaye aur keh de ki humne to Shamli se arrest dikha di. Ye hum yahaan nahi chalne denge (This will not work in Delhi. Illegal acts will not be allowed. You cannot come to Delhi, pick up people and then show arrest from Shamli. We won’t allow this here),” said Justice Gupta.
The judge further remarked that the action of UP Police in arresting the two from Delhi was unlawful at every step and that the court could not allow anybody to illegally arrest people from the national capital.
“Apni marzi se uthake kisiko nai le ja sakte. Yehi kanoon kehta hai na? Har step pe kanoon ko violate kiya aapne. Ye cheez Delhi main bardasht nai karenge (You cannot pick anyone at your will. You have violated the law at every step. This will not be tolerated in Delhi),” remarked the judge.
The court also pulled up the woman’s mother for concealing the age of her daughter and said that it would also initiate proceedings against her and others in Delhi for lodging a sham case.
As the mother broke down, Justice Gupta said, “What is the age of your daughter? Why didn’t you tell the police her real age? All this may work in UP but not here. If you think that crying before me will make a difference, let me tell you it will not,” said the judge.
On October 26, the high court had directed sub-inspector Pankaj Kumar Tyagi of UP Police to be present before it after the man’s two family members were arrested and taken out of Delhi in an alleged kidnapping case, without informing the Delhi Police.
Justice Gupta, while hearing a plea by the couple, said Delhi Police must be informed before arresting anyone from the city.
On Thursday, the court reproached Tyagi for not verifying the woman’s age. “Did you ask whether the girl was a minor or a major? If the girl was a major, then will it be her wish or the parents’ wish that would prevail?” it asked the police officer.
Tyagi, on his part, responded that he had sought the birth details from the mother, but she did not give the requisite documents. He maintained that the arrest was not made from Delhi but from Khudana in Shamli, UP.
The court then asked the station house officer of Shamli police station to submit a report as to what efforts were made to trace the woman from Delhi and whether the UP Police gave any intimation to the Delhi Police before arriving in the city. The court also directed him to get the statement of the woman recorded by the magistrate at the Patiala court by Friday.
