To arrest first and then proceed with rest is despicable: High Court

In this case, the high court was unjustified in imposing conditions. Considering the fact that the arrested person had paid over Rs.36 lakhs and had also appeared on several dates before the officers, it was clear that he was not a fly-by-night operator. Imposing conditions on such a person was uncalled for. In such a case, arrest itself was wholly unjustified, not to speak of unjustified judicial custody. The high court failed to appreciate that even in judicial custody, the accused has to spend time in Indian Jail, which are not exactly State Guest Houses. One can expect that the corrupt officers can run an extortion racket - of threatening arrest and sending them to JC, so that they spend some days in sordid Indian Jails. In this case, the arrest seems to be patently malicious. The victim would be well advised to sue the concerned officer for vexatious and malafide exercise of power and claim damages. There is no protection of section 40 of CE Act for such malafide acts.

Gururaj B N 05/06/2015