Punjab and Haryana HC Directs Compensation for Baseless FIR in Drug Case

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has recently issued a directive to the Punjab State police, instructing them to compensate a man with ₹10,000.

The compensation is for the filing of a baseless First Information Report (FIR) against the man in a drug case.

A single bench of Justice Rajbir Sehrawat passed the order while observing that the petitioner, who was arrested had undergone harassment and incurred expenses even though there was no foundation for the complaint filed against him.

“Since the FIR has been got registered even before creating a basis for that, and due to the FIR, the petitioner has been put to the harassment and expenses, therefore, the person, who got the said FIR registered against the petitioner without any basis is directed to pay a compensation of ₹10,000 to the petitioner within a period of four weeks from today,” the order reads.

The bench was hearing an anticipatory bail plea filed by Pushpinder Kumar, who had been charged with various offenses under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (NDPS Act).

During the hearing, the petitioner’s counsel contended that the charges against Pushpinder Kumar were completely baseless and were filed with malicious intent at the instigation of Sub Inspector (SI) Surinder Kumar.

On the other hand, the State’s counsel countered that the police had received confidential information regarding the petitioner’s involvement in the trading of narcotic drugs and substances. Consequently, the police visited the petitioner’s residence, but they found it locked, and it was acknowledged that nothing incriminating was recovered from the petitioner or the said residence.

Based on the presented facts, the Court concluded, “It can be safely construed that there is no evidence to support the prosecution’s case, even as per the assertions of the police. Therefore, the petitioner deserves protection against arrest.”

The Court did not quash the case but granted anticipatory bail to the petitioner in response to his plea.