Wrongful arrest: Mangaluru court imposes Rs 5 lakh fine on erring police officers

Mangaluru: A court here imposed a hefty fine on two police officers for the wrongful arrest of a man in a POCSO case and ordered them to pay compensation to the aggrieved man from their pockets.

The Secon Additional FTSC POCSO Court here imposed a fine of Rs 5 lakhs on Inspector Rvathi and Sub-Inspector Rosamma PP.

A case had been filed under the POCSO case at the Mangaluru Rural Police station based on the statement by a girl mentioning the accused to be Naveen. Based on the complaint, SI Rosamma registered a case and forwarded it to Inspector Ravathi for investigation. Naveen Sequeira was arrested during the investigation.

The aggrieved girl, in her complaint and in her statement before the judge, mentioned only the name of the accused to be Naveen. The charge sheet was later submitted to the court with Naveen Sequeira as the accused.

Naveen Sequeira, had pleaded with the court that he was wrongfully sent to judicial custody after his arrest by the police in the POCSO case. It was a case of mistaken identity as the accused in the POCSO case and the petitioner shared the same first name, it was argued.

Judge K U Radhakrishna, who conducted the trial, acquitted Naveen Sequeira and proclaimed him innocent. The court also, the police officers to pay a compensation of Rs 5 lakhs to Naveen Sequeira for his wrongful arrest to be paid by the police officers concerned from their own pockets.