Rs 1 lakh fine imposed on tehsildar for illegal custody

Paranda (Dharashiv): The Aurangabad bench of Bombay High Court reprimanded the State Government for going beyond the legal authority and keeping a farmer in judicial custody for seven days.

The HC ordered the then tehsildar of Paranda, Anilkumar Helkar, to pay a compensation of Rs 1 lakh to the petitioner farmer Amol Khule within four weeks in this case. The orders also said that this amount should be recovered from the tehsildar himself.

Amol Khule, a farmer from Sonari (Dharashiv) had demanded that the dirty water from the Bhairavnath factory be stopped from entering his fields.

Taking this as an objection, two non-cognizable offences were registered against him in Ambi police station.

Police produced Amol before Tehsildar Anilkumar on May 25, 2021, to complete the process of personal bond under Section 107 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).

However, Helkar ordered Khule to be kept in judicial custody for seven days, citing the possibility of creating social unrest in the future.

After undergoing this custody, the farmer had filed a criminal petition in the court through adv Vikram Undre.

After hearing the arguments, the court imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh, saying that the tehsildar had acted beyond his authority. The Government has also been ordered to recover this amount from the Tehsildar himself.

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Violation of personal freedom

The bench comprising Justice Nitin Suryavanshi and Justice Vaishali Patil made it clear that there is no right to give judicial custody under Section 107 of the BNS. “This action is a violation of personal freedom guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution. In such a situation, it is the fundamental right of the victim to get compensation,” the court observed.

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The administration filed a case against me under political pressure in 2021. Because I asked the company administration to stop the water from flowing into my field, for which I had to spend seven days in custody. I had to face mental anguish due to this case.

-Amol Khule, petitioner farmer.