A Lawyer Behind The Bars; Serious Matter: Bombay HC Raps Police Over Inconsistent Answers On Lawyer’s Arrest

Facts in Brief

• Advocate Vimal Harishchandra Jha was arrested by the Kharghar Police for offences punishable u/s 323, 364 A, 365, 387, 506 r/w 34 for supposedly trying to extort Rs. 3 Crore from his client and consequently kidnapping him.
• The Police initially held that Jha was arrested on 3rd April and brought before the Magistrate on 5th April but later on they claimed that he was arrested on 4th April.
• Jha filed a petition though Advocate Prashant Pandey seeking directions to quash the FIR.
• According to the petition, Jha’s client, Navnath Gole, has several criminal cases against him. After the two became friends, Jha agreed to invest in the client’s business and buy his premises worth Rs. 80 Lakh. They also accompanied each other to several places for work. However, Jha was detained and subsequent a missing complaint was lodged by his wife.

Proceedings of the Case

• During the hearing, the counsel for the petitioner submitted that Jha was arrested on 3rd April and produced before the Magistrate on 5th April which was in violation of provision u/s 57 of the CrPC and Article 22 (2) of the Constitution of India.
• He further argued that Jha was illegally handcuffed when was transferred from the police station to the court.
• Jha also alleged that the Police officer who was posted at Mantralaya was the appellant’s brother-in-law and they hatched a scheme to frame Jha in a false case.
• Pandey submitted that Jha was currently admitted to a private hospital due to the various ailments he suffers from.

Court’s Observations

• When the Chief Public Prosecutor Deepak Thakare was asked about the date of Jha’s arrest by Justice Kathawalla, Thakare answered it to be 3rd April but later claimed it to be 4th April. On this, the bench asked “why are you repeatedly making false statements before us?”
• After the Hon’ble Court enquired about the CCTV footage from the relevant dates, Thakare said that they were not available as CCTV installation began on May 1, 2021. On this Justice Kathawalla questioned “Is it not that all Police Stations should have CCTV camera? A lawyer I behind bars, it’s a very serious matter”
• The Bench will now hear the matter on Wednesday.

What do you think about this matter?