HC orders Maharashtra to pay activist Arun Ferreira Rs 2 lakh compensation for 2011 re-arrest

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday ruled that the re-arrest of activist Arun Ferreira by the police in 2011, as he was being released from the Nagpur Central Jail, had violated his fundamental rights. It directed Maharashtra, not the police personnel held responsible, to pay compensation of Rs 2 lakh to him.

Ferreira was arrested in May 2007 and spent more than four years in jail for his alleged involvement in Maoist activities.

On September 27, 2011, when Ferreira was being released after his acquittal in eight cases against him at the time, he was re-arrested near the jail’s gate.

Ferreira said that he had been taken into custody by a “group of unknown civilians” who “shut his mouth, lifted him and took him in a numbered vehicle”.

Six of the unknown persons “carried him, which was an act of forcible abduction”, he contended.

Ferreira said that he was intentionally shown to be absconding despite having been in jail between 2007 and 2011.

He was later informed that he was being held in two old cases related to Maoist violence in 2007. But at the time, Ferreira was not informed about the accusation against him and the grounds of arrest, read his petition.

The additional public prosecutor opposed Ferreira’s contentions and argued that due process...

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