The High Court of Karnataka has declined to quash a criminal proceeding initiated against a police inspector for showing disrespect to an order passed by a trial court granting anticipatory bail to an accused, tearing the court’s bail order copy and throwing it on the floor, and abusing the judge of the trial court.
Justice K. Natarajan passed the order while dismissing the petition filed by Harish V., who was serving as a sub-inspector of police at Sarjapura police station in Bengaluru during 2021 when he had indulged in the alleged acts. The petitioner was subsequently posted as police inspector in Chickballapur district.
‘Not official duties’
The acts of tearing the bail order and abusing the trial court judge who had granted bail cannot be termed as part of official discharge of duty, and hence there was no need for prior sanction for his prosecution under Section 197 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the High Court said.
These acts of the police officer is “offences committed on individual capacity”, the High Court said, while upholding the order of the trial court, which had in 2022 taken cognisance of offences against the petitioner police officer sans prior sanction.
Video-recorded
The criminal proceedings were initiated against the petitioner based on a private complaint lodged by Narayanaswamy alias JCB Narayana. It was alleged that the petitioner-police officer had indulged in the alleged acts when the complainant, along with his two advocates, met the petitioner and presented the anticipatory bail granted to the complainant in a criminal case. The acts of the petitioner was video recorded by the advocates and it was presented before the trial court along with the complaint.
It was alleged in the complaint that the petitioner had threatened the complaint by pointing pistol at his forehead besides threatening to register multiple criminal cases in addition to the existing cases against him.
The petitioner was booked for offences committed under Section 166A (public servant disobeying direction under law), 340 (wrongfully confining complainant), 350 (use of criminal force), 499 (defaming and damaging reputation of the judicial officer/judiciary), 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code, and Section 25 of the Arms Act.
