Dinesh Kamath's news item 'Govt asked to compensate duo for being ill-treated by police' that was published in Newsband

Govt asked to compensate duo for being ill-treated by police

By Dinesh Kamath

NAVI MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court today directed the state government to pay compensation of Rs three lakh each to a senior citizen and her son for illegally detaining them inside jail for three days, last year. The court also levied cost of Rs 15,000 on the government in the case.

A petition was filed by Dilip Kamwani and his 78-year-old mother Mohini Kamwani. In the petition, they sought action against two inspectors of Vashi police, the then Deputy Commissioner of Police Purushottam Karad and the then commissioner of Navi Mumbai police Javed Ahmed.

According to the petition, Dilip and his mother were detained on January 25, 2012 by the Vashi police for threatening to commit suicide and were kept in Kalyan jail for three days.

Mohini had in 2010 lodged a complaint against her daughter and three grandsons for harassment. However, when the police refused to register her complaint, Mohini sat on a hunger strike on January 16 last year at Azad Maidan. A policeman advised her to send a letter to the chief justice of the high court saying she would commit suicide if the police did not consider her grievance. Mohini wrote the letter which was handed to Navi Mumbai police. But later, on second thought, the statement to commit suicide was withdrawn by her and she returned home along with her son.

However, on January 25, Vashi police lodged a FIR against them. They were kept in the prison for three days after which they were released.

Mother and son then appealed to the High Court and asked for compensation of Rs 10 lakhs.

The high court, after giving a hearing to their case, directed the government to pay compensation of Rs three lakh each to Mohini and Dilip. Navi Mumbai police were also asked to register their complaints and to make proper investigations into the case.