1 wp 2044-2010 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION CRIMINAL WRIT PETITION NO. 2044 OF 2010 Pravin Sohanraj Mehta ` ...Petitioner vs. The State of Maharashtra & Ors. ...Respondents Mr.S.G. Deshmukh i/b. Mr.Manish N. Jain for the Petitioner. Mr.A.S. Gadkari, APP for the State. CORAM : B.H. MARLAPALLE & U.D. SALVI, JJ. JULY 4, 2011 P.C. :- 1 We have heard Mr.Deshmukh with Mr.Jain, the learned Counsel for the petitioner. Mr.Gadkari, the learned APP appears for the State of Maharashtra. 2 This petition prays for directions to respondent no.3 and 4 to take appropriate action against respondent nos.5 to 9 and to prosecute and punish respondent nos.5 to 8 for keeping the 2 wp 2044-2010 petitioner in illegal detention, physical assault and defamation. It further prays for prosecution of respondent nos.5 to 9 for extortion. 3 We have perused the petitioner’s complaint dated 6th July, 2010 and the affidavit-in-reply filed by Shri Prakash Pasalkar, PSI, Crime Branch, Wagle, Unit V, Thane, and Shri Pandit Kendre, ACP, Crime Branch (Detection), Thane City. Shri Pandit Kendre, ACP, has stated that he conducted an inquiry into the complaint of the petitioner submitted on 6th July, 2010 to the Commissioner of Police and DGP. 4 It is the case of the petitioner that in connection with the CR No.39/2010, he was picked up on 8th June, 2010 and was kept in illegal detention upto 11th June, 2010 on which date he was shown to have been arrested and produced for remand before the learned Judicial Magistrate, First Class (2nd Court), Thane, on 12th June, 2010. The affidavit-in-reply 3 wp 2044-2010 filed by Shri Prakash Pasalkar states that two days Magisterial custody was granted. He was released on bail on 14th June, 2010. 5 The petitioner alleges that not only he was in illegal detention from 8th June, 2010 to 11th June, 2010, but he was indeed physically tortured and in support of these allegations, he has relied upon the Medical Certificate issued by Shri Mahaveer Nursing Home on 10th July, 2010 and has placed on record some photographs showing that there was bleeding injury caused near his ankle and this injury was on account of beating by the police when he was illegally detained. These allegations have been denied in both the affidavits filed by the police officers. 6 Admittedly, the petitioner was released on 14th June, 2010, whereas the Medical Certificate dated 10th July, 2010 states that he was under treatment from 6th July, 2010 to 9th July, 2010. Therefore, this 4 wp 2044-2010 period is not proximate to the period of his detention. Secondly, he was produced for remand on 12th June, 2010 before the learned Judicial Magistrate, First Class. He did not complain that he was in detention from 8th June, 2010 and that he was subjected to physical tortures by the PSI Shri Pasalkar. Immediately after he was released on 14th June, 2010, nothing stopped him from filing the complaint to the higher police officers like the DCP, etc. or to approach the Human Rights Commission. The photographs annexed to the petition would not support his case that they are the photographs indicating physical assault on him during the period he was in alleged illegal detention from 8th June, 2010 to 12th June, 2010. The petitioner could not explain why he was hospitalised from 6th to 9th July, 2010, when he was released on bail on 14th June, 2010. 7 Mr.Deshmukh, the learned Counsel for the petitioner has also invited our attention to the 5 wp 2044-2010 inquiry purportedly conducted by the ACP and the statements of two witnesses recorded during the course of that inquiry viz. Brahmanand Aggarwal and Shri Suresh Lad. The fact remains that in support of the petitioner’s allegations that he was illegally detained from 8th June, 2010 to 11th June, 2010, we do not find any, even prima facie, material to support his allegations and that at the earliest when he was produced for remand before the Judicial Magistrate, First Class, on 12th June, 2010, he did not make any complaint to the Magistrate. 8 Hence, the petition fails and the same is hereby dismissed. (U.D. SALVI, J) (B.H. MARLAPALLE, J)