Taking serious note of another instance of illegal detention by the Whitefield police, the High Court of Karnataka on Saturday (August 29) summoned and pulled up Deputy Commissioner of Police (Whitefield division) Saidulu Adavath for repeatedly curtailing personal liberty of citizens contrary to law.
Questioning how the police arrest or detain persons illegally, that too contrary to the apex court’s judgments and right under the nose of the State Police Chief, the High Court ordered the Director-General and Inspector General of Police to issue guidelines making it clear to the police that illegal arrest/detention would attract disciplinary proceedings against them, irrespective of their rank, apart from exemplary costs when such instances are brought to the court’s notice.
The Whitefield police had suo motu registered a case against him for publishing a Facebook post celebrating the cancellation of a show by stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra and terming it is “a victory for Hindu unity” as the samithi had given representation to the police against allowing the show in Whitefield.
The court noted that the police had registered the case on August 4 at 2 a.m. and the very next day, two sub-inspectors and two constables went to Udupi, where the petitioner had travelled to, and brought him to Whitefield in his car.
Interestingly, the court noticed, the police, a few yards away from the police station, served him with a notice dated August 5/6, 2026, under Section 35(3) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Surakasha Sanhita, which, in fact, had given him the next three days to appear before them for questioning. The court found it to be a blatant violation as the petitioner himself was in their custody even before the notice landed on his hands.
The High Court also noted that the police took suo motu cognizance of the post sans any complaint, allegedly “imagining disharmony overnight”, while pointing out that their action is contrary to the judgment of the apex court, which had upheld guidelines, issued by the High Court of Telangana in Nalla Balu’s case for registering FIRs based on social media posts.
“You can’t take the liberty of citizens for granted just because you are in a uniform...,” the High Court orally told the DCP, who had no answers to justify the action of illegal detention to the many of questions posed to him by the court.
When Mr. Adavath told the court that the petitioner voluntarily came to the Whitefield Police Station in his personal car, the petitioner’s advocate said that he was told to face consequences. The two sub-inspectors and two constables also came in his car.
Later, Mr. Adavath said that the petitioner was “not receiving calls”, justifying his action of sending the police to Udupi, but the court told him that the notice itself had given him three days to appear.
The court on August 27 had imposed ₹3 lakh cost on DCP and ACP (Whitefield division) and the Investigation Officer of Whitefield Police Station for illegally arresting a man in a criminal case arisen from a civil dispute.
