HC upholds order awarding compensation to man detained on suspicion of being Maoist

Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Monday upheld a single-bench order granting Rs 1-lakh compensation to a man who was illegally detained on suspicion of being a Maoist.

A division bench of Chief Justice Hrishikesh Roy and Justice A K Jayasankaran Nambiar dismissed the state government appeal challenging the single judge's order.

"The court has no hesitation in holding that in view of the primacy that is accorded under our Constitution to a person's fundamental right to privacy and personal liberty, the action of police in detaining and interrogating the petitioner and thereafter searching his residence, without following procedure under the Code of Criminal Procedure was wholly unjustified," the bench said. The case concerns the arrest of Shyam Balakrishnan by Kerala police's special squad, suspecting that he was a Maoist.

In his plea, Shyam Balakrishnan, son of a former high court judge, alleged he was harassed by the special squad involved in counter-insurgency operations in Kerala in 2014. In its order in 2015, the single bench had said the police cannot detain a person merely because he is a Maoist, unless police form a reasonable opinion that his activities are unlawful.

Disposing the case, the single bench had ordered payment of Rs 1 lakh compensation to Balakrishnan within two months. The state government was also directed to pay the litigation cost of Rs 10,000 along with the compensation quantified.