Wrong place of arrest mentioned by Delhi Police, notes court, grants bail to man

New Delhi, Aug 27 (PTI) A Delhi court has granted bail to a man accused of theft, saying a Delhi Police officer had wrongly mentioned the place of his arrest, which not only undermined the prosecution's case at the threshold, but also violated the individual's constitutional safeguards.

Judicial Magistrate P Bhargav Rao was hearing the bail plea of Mohammad Chand, who had been incarcerated for around four months in a case registered by the Krishna Nagar police station for house trespass and theft.

In an order dated August 23, the court noted a response by the investigating officer (IO) to its query and said, "The place of arrest was wrongly mentioned on the arrest memo, which is a new ground brought to the notice of the court. This undermines the credibility of the prosecution's case at the threshold and violates the procedural and constitutional safeguards." Earlier, the IO said that he was under training at that time and wrongly mentioned the place of arrest.

The court said that although Chand's previous plea for bail had been rejected on July 5, a fresh and valid ground was brought before it.

Citing a 2014 apex court verdict, it said, "It has been mandated by the Supreme Court that an arrest memo must be prepared mentioning the date, time and place of arrest, and it must be attested by a witness and countersigned by the arrestee, and if there is any discrepancy or falsity, like wrong place of arrest, it creates a doubt about the legality and fairness of the arrest." The court said, considering the new fact before it and that no recovery was effected from Chand, he was entitled to bail on furnishing a bail bond and surety bond of Rs 25,000 each.

The court also imposed other conditions for granting the relief, such as joining the investigation when required, not committing similar offences, and not tampering with evidence or threatening or making inducements to any person familiar with the facts of the case. PTI MNR RHL