The Hindu : Karnataka News : Victim of mistaken identity, war veteran moves HC

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Saturday, Apr 19, 2008
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Karnataka

Victim of mistaken identity, war veteran moves HC

Staff Reporter

Seeks Rs. 30 lakh for wrongful confinement

Abdul Hamid Mulla has won six medals for good service
He says he was wrongfully arrested by the police

BANGALORE: A sepoy from Bijapur, who is a war veteran and has won six medals, all for good service, on Friday petitioned the Karnataka High Court for compensation of Rs. 30 lakh.

The sepoy, who said he was injured in the India-Pakistan war of 1971 and retired with a certificate of good conduct from the Indian Army in 1979, claims that he was wrongfully arrested by the Bijapur police.

In his petition, Abdul Hamid Mulla said he was in the Madras Engineering Group (MEG-203 Engg) as a sepoy. He said he joined the Army in 1963. He said he fought the war with Pakistan in 1971 and was injured. He retired in 1979 and was awarded a certificate of good conduct.

He had a blemish-free service in the Army and that he was awarded six medals, including the Samar Seva Star in 1965, Purvi Medal, Samya Seva Medal, nine-year Seva Medal and the 25th year Independence Day Medal.

He said he had settled down in Bijapur. He said he was shocked when the manager of a bank in Bijapur named him as one among the group of persons who had cheated the bank of Rs. 45 lakh and lodged a police complaint against him on June 8, 2006.

The group had fabricated documents to purchase Tata Sumo vehicles and the bank claimed that Hamid’s account was used for transferring the money.

Hamid said despite his protestations, the Bijapur police arrested him on December 18, 2007. Five cases were registered against him.

Hamid told the court that he informed the bank and the police that he was not the person who had cheated the bank. He had told the police the whereabouts of the person who had cheated the bank. Unfortunately for Hamid, the cheat too bore the same name.

Hamid said he spent 18 days in custody before being granted bail. He said once he came out of jail, he realised that his name and reputation had forever been sullied. When he went for a check-up at the Sainik Hospital, one of the staff asked him how he could have indulged in such a deplorable incident. The continuous insinuations by the people that he was a cheat told on his health and Hamid said he had a heart attack.

Left with no alternative, Hamid decided to knock on the doors of the High Court for justice. He urged the court to direct the State to take action against the police officers for wrongfully arresting him. He also sought action against the then bank manager.

Hamid has also asked for a compensation of Rs. 30 lakh for wrongful confinement, mental agony and distress caused to him and his family by what he claimed was illegal and arbitrary action of the police.

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