Court on arrest
The Supreme Court of India invalidating the arrest of Prabir Purkayastha, a journalist and an online portal founder, on account of the total disregard by the Delhi police for the established procedure to be followed in such arrest, should be a lesson for the investigating agencies concerned (Page 1, May 16). The Court’s ruling is significant as it has emphasised that proper procedure and due process are “guardrails” against arbitrary actions, even in stringent terror cases. Will the police authorities concerned be brought to justice for keeping a citizen behind bars for over seven months following his illegal arrest? Unless exemplary punishment is awarded for such illegal acts by the police, there will be many more instances of this kind in future.
S.K. Choudhury,
