HC raps Police in illegal detention case

The Mumbai police got an earful from the Bombay High Court on Thursday while hearing a case of illegal detention.

The Mumbai police got an earful from the Bombay High Court on Thursday while hearing a case of illegal detention.

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Chunabhatti businessman Abhaychandra Yadav (28) had filed a petition alleging that he was illegally detained by the Matunga police last year.

Justice D.B. Bhosale said: “This is the reason citizens are reluctant to come to police. If such incidences keep surfacing, who will trust the police?”

The court asked Additional Public Prosecutor Sangeeta Shinde if any inquiry was conducted against the police officers concerned.

Yadav, an automobile consultant, claimed he was illegally detained by the Matunga police for 18 hours and even beaten by an officer in August 2009 .

Yadav’s office is located next to Tata Capital’s, which gives personal loans for vehicles.

On July 29, some men hired by Tata Capital confiscated Mohammed Ismail Hassan’s car for non-payment of loan.

Hassan’s driver lodged a complaint at the Matunga police station, alleging the car was stolen by men posing as the company officials.

As Sachin Mhaskar, an employee at Tata Capital knew Yadav, he asked him to explain the situation to the Matunga police. Yadav alleged that on August 12, 2009, when he and his friend Yagnesh Bhatt went to the police station, Sub-Inspector Arjun Sawant shouted at him and beat him for “two-three minutes”. Senior Police Inspector Deshmukh too questioned Yadav and slapped him, he alleged.

He was kept in the custody all night, and the next morning was taken to Tata Capital’s headquarters, and later to DCP Sanjay Bawiskar's office.