New Delhi, Jul 13 (PTI) A court here has directed Delhi Police to file an FIR against three policemen who allegedly illegally detained and abused two men, including a lawyer, during the second Covid wave in April 2021.

Metropolitan Magistrate Ayush Sharma passed the order on a complaint filed by the Delhi-based lawyer, noting that the accused persons were neither on official duty at the place of the incident nor their alleged acts could be categorised to be falling within the legal domain recognized by law.

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The complainant alleged that he was picked up by three policemen in civil clothes, while he was standing in line to get oxygen for his hospitalised sister in April last year.

The court directed the Station House Officer (SHO) of Rani Bagh Police Station to register an FIR and initiate an investigation against a Sub-Inspector, constable, and an "unidentified policeman".

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“While section 197 CrPc and section 140 of the Delhi Police Act protect police persons from being prosecuted while acting in the line of duty, it is clear that the proposed accused were neither on official duty at the place of the incident nor their alleged acts can be categorised to be falling within the legal domain recognized by law,” the judge noted in an order passed on July 11.

He said there must be some legal basis for depriving a person of his personal liberty, granted by the Constitution under Article 21.

“The complainant has categorically narrated all the details of the incident and the alleged acts of the proposed accused persons cannot fall prima facie within the protection afforded by the law," noted the court.

The complaint had sought registration of an FIR against the police personnel for harassment, misuse of authority, and beating up the complainant.

According to the complaint, the three policemen had also threatened the lawyer and his cousin with serious consequences for "disobeying the police".

The incident turned into an altercation after which the policemen allegedly tried to force the lawyer and his cousin into the police jeep and then a private car, it alleged. PTI UK

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)