Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Oct 08, 2007
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Online edition of India's National Newspaper Monday, Oct 08, 2007 ePaper |
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Tamil Nadu
MADURAI: The police do not have any authority to arrest two consenting adults spending time in their own way in a private lodge as it does not constitute a criminal act or a penal offence, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has ruled. Justice K. Chandru came down heavily on personnel of the Thanjavur All Women Police Station for arresting a married couple, both government servants, under the Immoral Traffic (prevention) Act, 1956. “Even assuming that they were not married, if the two individuals are consenting adults and they are found in any posture in a private lodge…it does not give authority to the police to arrest such persons without justification. The police are only a law-enforcing agency, and they cannot assume the duty of moral policing,” he said, while allowing two writ petitions filed by the 51-year-old headmaster of a panchayat union school and his 35-year-old wife, an anganwadi worker. The couple sought to quash their suspension after their arrest at a lodge where they were staying to attend a relative’s marriage, based on a complaint made by a boy running errands. “It is reprehensible on the part of the All Women Police who had not only caused misery to two consenting individuals, legally wedded as husband and wife, but also brought disrepute to their life especially when the individuals are working in remote villages. The loss of face and defamation caused by the overenthusiastic police can neither be condoned nor the petitioners could be compensated suitably,” Mr. Justice Chandru said. The judge also pulled up the Thanjavur Collector and the District Elementary Education Officer for suspending the couple on the basis of the recommendations made by the police and not revoking it despite the petitioners’ plea. “It shows callousness and indifference on the part of the respondents while invoking the powers of suspension and continuing it without taking steps to remedy the situation.” The headmaster, who lost his first wife in 2002, married the anganwadi worker as per Hindu customs on May 18, 2006. They were arrested on June 18, 2006. The anganwadi worker was suspended on June 26 and the headmaster on August 8, 2006. They registered the marriage on July 25. On the delay in registration of the marriage, the judge said: “The Hindu law does not require any registration.”
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