SC agrees to hear plea seeking compensation for wrongful arrest, incarceration
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a plea filed by a man incarcerated for 12 years before his acquittal by the apex court in a rape and murder case, seeking compensation for the "wrongful arrest, prosecution and conviction".
"Issue notice, returnable on November 24. We would request the attorney general or the solicitor general to assist this court in this matter," a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta said on Monday.
The bench was hearing three separate petitions raising the similar issue.
In one of the matters, the petitioner was on death row for six years after being awarded capital punishment by a trial court in Thane, Maharashtra, in March 2019.
The Bombay High Court in November 2021 upheld the death sentence awarded to him.
However, in May this year, the apex court acquitted him of the charges while noting the "flawed and tainted" investigation.
"The instant case is yet another classic example of shabby and perfunctory investigation leading to failure of the prosecution case involving a gruesome incident of rape and murder of the budding life of a tender young girl aged about 3 years and 9 months," the top court said in its May verdict.
The man has now approached the top court seeking compensation "on account of his wrongful conviction, predicated on an illegal and tainted investigation and unfair prosecution using fabricated evidence" by which he was convicted for the alleged offences by the trial court in Thane.
"The petitioner had been arrested on October 3, 2013, without any basis, and was finally released on May 19, 2025, after 12 years of wrongful incarceration, six of which he endured on death row," the plea said.
It said the man, now 41, hails from a village in Uttar Pradesh.
"The petitioner has suffered a grave and severe violation of his fundamental rights guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution, on account of being falsely accused of heinous offences, illegally arrested, being made the subject of an illegal and tainted investigation, unfair prosecution, and suffering 12 years of wrongful incarceration, for which the petitioner ought to be appropriately compensated by the respondent state...," the plea said.
It added that mere release of the individual from incarceration was not sufficient to correct the wrong faced by him, and the state ought to be directed to pay appropriate compensation to the petitioner for the pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage he suffered for 12 years.
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'Someone must be held accountable': HC converts civil suit on Goa nightclub tragedy into PIL
Panaji (PTI): The Bombay High Court on Monday converted a civil suit against Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub into a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) saying "someone has to be held accountable" for the tragedy in which 25 people were killed.In a stern observation, Goa bench of the High Court of Justices Sarang Kotwal and Ashish Chavan said the local panchayat had "failed to take suo motu cognisance" of the club and had taken "no action despite complaints."
The division bench directed the Goa government to file a detailed reply on the permissions granted to the nightclub.
The High Court, while fixing January 8 as the next date of hearing, pointed out that commercial operations were continuing in the structure despite it having been served a demolition order.
The original petition was filed after the December 6 tragedy by Pradeep Ghadi Amonkar and Sunil Divkar, the owners of the land on which the nightclub was operating.
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Advocate Rohit Bras de Sa, the lawyer representing the petitioner, was made amicus curiae in the matter and has been asked to file a detailed affidavit in the matter.
In their petition, Amonkar and Divkar highlighted "the alarming pattern of statutory violations that have remained inadequately addressed despite multiple complaints, inspections, show-cause notices, and even a demolition order".
They contended that these violations posed "immediate threats to public safety, ecological integrity, and the rule of law in the state of Goa."
Investigations by multiple agencies into the nightclub fire have revealed various irregularities, including lack of permissions to operate the nightclub.
The Goa police arrested five managers and staff members of the club, while co-owners Gaurav Luthra and Saurabh Luthra have been detained in Thailand after they fled the country.
