SHRC slaps Rs 75k fine on cops for harassing biz man

In his order, judicial member D Jayachandran has also directed the government to recover Rs 50,000 from the inspector of police, Tenkasi police station, and Rs 25,000 from the head constable.

Mohamed Nainar, a real estate businessman, gave Rs 3 lakh as loan to Salavudeen of Achanputhur village in Tirunelveli, in presence of a person named Shahul Hameed. Salavudeen had promised to return the amount within a month and gave a cheque for Rs 3 lakh in favour of Nainar. As Salavudeen failed to repay the money as promised, Nainar deposited the cheque. But it was returned as there was no sufficient balance in the account. Following this, Nainar issued a notice through his advocate to Salavudeen as per Negotiable Instrument Act. Though Salavudeen received the notice, he did not give any reply.

In the meanwhile, Salavudeen lodged a criminal complaint against Nainar and Shahul Hameed, following which they were called in for an inquiry to the Tenkasi police station. When Shahul Hameed went to the police station, inspector Thiruppathi asked him to return the cheque that Salavudeen gave. When he explained that Salavudeen borrowed Rs 3 lakh from Nainar and issued the cheque, Nainar was called to the police station.

The inspector threatened Nainar that if he failed to return the cheque to Salavudeen, he would be implicated in criminal cases that were pending in the police station and sent to jail. Thereafter, inspector went along with Nainar to his house and collected the cheque. He also received the signature from Nainar and Shahul Hameed on a white paper.

When the commission took up the matter after Nainar approached it with a complaint, the inspector and the head constable denied any wrongdoing. However, the commission considered the oral and documentary evidence and also the arguments of both the parties, and concluded that it was a civil issue between Nainar and Salavudeen in which the police officers had no powers to inquire the complaint. The commission also found that the police officers had acted in favour of Salavudeen, and ordered Rs 75,000 as compensation for violating the human rights of the complainant.