The Kerala High Court on Wednesday ordered the State Government to pay compensation to an 8-year-old Dalit girl who filed an application with the court after she was falsely accused of stealing by a police officer.
The incident occurred at Thiruvananthapuram where the girl and her father were watching a huge cargo truck carrying equipment to the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre.
The movement of the truck had not only attracted the girl and her father but a huge crowd that led to the deployment of police officers that included a Pink-Patrol squad for controlling the crowd.
While they were watching, a lady officer, Rejitha, allegedly ran towards the girl and without a shred of proof accused her of stealing her phone. This even caught the attention of the crowd there.
The petitioners claimed that the police officer used derogatory language and tried to intimidate and threaten them. The girl was left traumatized and also required counselling.
The entire event was filmed by a bystander who put it on social media. The officer later found her phone in her vehicle.
Following this, the father of the girl had approached the State Police Chief seeking action against the police officer but to no avail. Then the father-daughter duo moved to the High Court.
Justice Devan Ramachandran ordered the Kerala Government to pay ₹1.5 lakh to the girl for the trauma she had to undergo. Not only this, the court asked the government to pay Rs 25,000 as compensation for the costs within a period of 30 days.
However, the court refused the plea to sack the police officer since she is a mother of three children and in financial stress. However, it did ask police authorities to initiate disciplinary action against her. The court pointed out that the apology tendered by the officer on record goes a long way in ending the trauma of the girl.
Justice Ramachandran observed the entire situation could have been avoided if the police officer had merely acted empathetically and responsibly.
However, Additional Public Prosecutor P Narayanan submitted that “A public law remedy can only be availed when the facts are undisputed and there is an undeniable finding of a violation of the fundamental rights guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution. That is not so in this case.”
The Court expressed its exasperation with the State’s objection to granting compensation, especially since the police officer herself had submitted an affidavit with an unequivocal apology which aligned with the version of events as narrated by the young girl.
The petitioner had sought a sum of ₹50 lakh as compensation, but the court decided that a smaller sum would be commensurate in this situation.
“The trauma suffered by little Devipriya is immeasurable but when it is estimated in monetary terms this court will have to keep in mind certain basic parameters and I am therefore of the view that the aforesaid amount would subserve justice substantially, if not fully,” the Court said
