Kerala HC bench stays compensation for youth once arrested for alleged Maoist link

Mangalore Today News Network

Kerala, June 26, 2015: Acting upon an appeal filed by the Kerala Government, a division bench of Kerala high court on Friday stayed a single bench directive to pay compensation for a youth who had been nabbed by police on charges of alleged Maoist link.

 

Last month, a single bench of the high court had asked the state to pay Shyam Balakrishnan, a native of Wayanad, a compensation of Rs 1 lakh and Rs 10,000 as litigation cost.

The directive to pay compensation was part of the high court verdict, which said being a Maoist is not a crime and that a person cannot be arrested merely because is one.

The stay on the order to pay compensation came when the government appealed the division bench against the single bench ruling.

Balakrishnan, son of a former high court judge, was illegally picked up by police last year on suspicion of being a Maoist.
Alleging police harassment, Balakrishnan moved the high court against the police, claiming that the police action infringed on Article 21 of the Constitution.

The court had then said, “being a Maoist is no crime. Freedom of thought and liberty of conscience is a natural right. Freedom becomes unlawful only when it concerns the physical law of the State.”



Courtesy: Indianexpress