Case Law Details
CCIT Vs. Rajendra Singh (Patna High Court)- Even assuming that there were temporary breaks in course of interrogation which continued for 42 hours, it is not in dispute that even on the second night of search and survey on 10.9.2010, the interrogations continued till 3 A.M. and the respondent no. 3 and his family members were made to remain awake when it was time for sleep.
No cause has been shown as to why it was necessary to continue the interrogations till deep in the second night of interrogations. The case relied by the department in the case of Rajendran Chingaravelu (supra) would not be of much help, as in the aforesaid case the petitioner was detained for 15 hours on the first day itself, as he was carrying Rs.60 lacs at the Airport which could have been used for the illegal activities In the instant case, the interrogation have continued for 42 hours and undisputedly at the odd hours of second night, which could easily have been avoided and deferred. No reason has been recorded for not deferring the interrogation till morning.
I am in agreement with the submissions of the petitioners that if required, the search and seizure can continue for days but at the same time due regard to human dignity and value cannot be ignored. In the instant case, no reason has been assigned as to why it was absolutely imperative to continue with the interrogations at 3 A.M. on 10.9.2010, when search and seizure has commenced on 8.9.2010 at 9.30 A.M. Even if I agree with the submissions of petitioners that there were breaks and there were no continuous interrogation for 36 hours as held by Commission, still the department has no plausible excuse for making interrogations till odd hours of second night till 3 A.M. Thus I partially affirm the order of learned Commission holding the department guilty of violating human rights but only to the extent indicated in paras 18 and 22.
HIGH COURT OF PATNA
Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case No. 10707 of 2011
Please become a Premium member. If you are already a Premium member, login here to access the full content.
