‘Police Erode Faith in Justice More than Criminals’: Bombay High Court on Custodial Humiliation

The Bombay High Court directed the Maharashtra Government to pay ₹50,000 compensation each to a lawyer and an ex-serviceman who were illegally stripped, handcuffed, and paraded publicly by police after they visited a police station to file a complaint.

The Court held that the police action violated the petitioners’ fundamental rights under Article 21 and subjected them to unwarranted humiliation and indignity.

Observing that they were neither habitual offenders nor hardened criminals, the Court found no justification for handcuffing them.

It further remarked that such police misconduct weakens public confidence in the criminal justice system more than acts committed by private individuals.

[Adv. Yogeshwar Madhukarrao Kawade & Anr. v. The State of Maharashtra & Ors.]