Right to sleep is a basic human requirement and not providing it violates a person's human rights, says Bombay high court. The division bench of Justices Revati Mohite-Dere and Manjusha Deshpande made the observation in a plea filed by a senior citizen facing a probe in a money laundering case. 64-year-old Ram Issrani filed a plea challenging his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case.
Issrani, arrested in August 2023, contended that his arrest was unjust and baseless since he had been cooperating with the investigation and had always complied with summonses. In his plea, Issrani mentioned that on August 7, 2023, he had appeared before the agency in response to the summons and was interrogated all night before being arrested the following day.
According to the plea, Issrani was interrogated until 3 am by officials from the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The agency's counsel, Hiten Venegaonkar, informed the court that Issrani had agreed to have his statement recorded throughout the night.
The court criticized the late-night recording of the petitioner's statement, which extended past midnight till 3.30 am, whether voluntary or not. It emphasized the importance of the 'right to sleep' and 'right to blink' as fundamental human needs. Depriving someone of these rights violates their human rights, as lack of sleep can impact health and cognitive abilities.
The court stressed that statements should be taken during reasonable hours to ensure the person's cognitive skills are not compromised. Additionally, it highlighted that the investigating agency must have a valid reason to suspect the individual of wrongdoing before summoning them for questioning. The court also acknowledged that the petitioner had cooperated with the agency in the past.