The High Court of Kerala has stated that ‘being a Maoist is of no crime, though the political ideology of the Maoist will not synchronise with our constitutional polity. Police cannot detain a person merely because he is a Maoist, unless the police form a reasonable opinion that his activities are unlawful’, in its latest statement for public and media release.
The court has further ordered the State to pay a compensation worth Rs.1 lakh and Rs.10,000 for expenses to the petitioner Shyam Balakrishnan from Wayanad district, in this matter. In his judgment on Friday, Justice A. Muhamed Mustaque announced that ‘if the Maoist organisation is a proscribed organisation under the law, activities of the Maoist organisation can be interfered. If the individual or organisation abhors and resorts to physical violence, the law agency can prevent or take action against the individual or organisation.’
The judgment also pointed out that the police had clearly violated the liberty and rights of the petitioner, by forcefully taking him into custody without satisfying that the petitioner was involved in any cognisable offence punishable under regulations.
The State, the verdict said had ‘stridently defended the police action as part of duty to combat Maoist activities and their activists.’ Furthermore, the liberty of the individual, however small or high, had to be protecteda nd that all are equal before the law. The police should have displayed ‘sensitiveness and appeal to the intelligence while exercising their power’ and not by being ruthless and unanswerable- the court pointed out.
(Cover image: Indianvanguard)
Tags: Maoist
