Delhi Court Rejects Plea by 4 Gujarat Cops Accused of Kidnapping Minor Boy
A Delhi court has dismissed a plea filed by four Gujarat Police officers accused of taking a minor boy from Delhi to Ahmedabad while searching for his father, ruling that their official duties did not authorise them to take custody of the child.
Additional Sessions Judge Parveen Singh, in an order dated August 12, upheld a trial court's decision to take cognisance of the alleged offence and direct the framing of charges for alleged kidnapping against the four personnel.
The court criticised the actions of the officers, observing that they had acted like "colonial overlords" by taking the child and using him as "bait" to compel his father to surrender. The court noted that while the officers were tasked with tracing the boy's father, who was wanted in a criminal case, their mandate did not extend to taking the child across state borders.
The matter stems from an incident on May 25, 2008, when the boy's mother lodged a complaint stating that five or six Gujarat Police personnel in plain clothes arrived at a scrap shop she ran in Delhi. The officers, who were searching for her husband, allegedly took the minor from her custody and transported him to Gujarat.
According to the judgment, the boy was allegedly confined, abused, and beaten during the journey. The prosecution relied on the boy's statement recorded before a magistrate, which stated that he was detained in a police lock-up and tortured.
The accused officers had filed a criminal revision petition seeking protection granted to public servants, contending that they were acting in the discharge of their official duties while searching for an absconding accused. They argued that prior government sanction was mandatory before they could be prosecuted.
The court rejected this contention, ruling that merely acting in an official capacity is insufficient to claim such legal protection without a reasonable connection between the alleged act and official duty. The court held that taking the minor from his mother's custody and transporting him to Ahmedabad could "by no stretch of imagination" be considered part of the officers' official duties.
