NRI detention: SHRC finds ACP guilty of negligence

The State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) has found a woman inspector guilty of negligence, which led to a 50-year-old NRI to undergo detention at the Mumbai airport for 34 hours in 2019.

On Friday, the SHRC recommended the State government to pay a compensation of ₹2 lakh to the victim.

It also recommended the government to recover the compensation amount from the salary of Mary Shailaja, who is presently serving as the Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) of the Yeshwanthpur sub division.

Krishnaprasad, an NRI businessman from the U.K., was arrested in a harassment case in 2016 and later released on bail. The police filed a chargesheet against him, and Krishnaprasad took a stay order from the High Court.

On February 19, 2019, Krishnaprasad was detained at the Mumbai airport under a lookout circular (LOC) issued by the Halasuru Gate women police station.

A probe revealed that the circular had to be revised every year, but the police had failed to do so. When the immigration officials detained him and informed the police about the detention, instead of clarifying about the order, a team of police was sent to secure his arrest.

The police had even called the family of Krishnaprasad asking them to book the air tickets to take him to Bengaluru. However, after reaching the airport, the police found out about the High Court order and released him asking him to appear before the inspector the next day.

Due to this, Krishnaprasad had not only suffered 34 hours of detention and alleged humiliation, but also incurred a loss of ₹57,000 towards air tickets he had booked for the U.K.

Krishnaprasad had to take the next flight after paying ₹66,000 and later approached the SHRC through his family.

The probe by the SHRC revealed that the police have not revised the lookout circular and due to the negligence of the inspector, Krishnaprasad had to suffer harassment and financial loss. When the immigration officials contacted the Halasuru Gate police for clarification, instead of updating the case details, they sent a mail stating that Krishnaprasad was wanted in connection with the case for the purpose of investigation and should be handed over to head constables, Pushpakaran and Srinivas, for further investigation.

The email was sent from the official mail of ACP Mary Shailaja, which was recorded as the evidence.

The SHRC officials summoned the police who deposed before the commission that they carried the orders issued by the inspector. The family members alleged that the police had demanded money from them to revise the LOC. However, the allegation was not proved due to a lack of evidence.