Much fuss was made of the CCTV camera in store Fab India when HRD Minister Smriti Irani went shopping there while in Goa. The camera it is alleged was pointed at the Ladies changing room . A place that Smriti used to try on clothes. Four employees of the store were at once arrested and the news flashed over all channels. Now a court in Goa has slammed police for arbitrarily arresting four Fabindia employees after union minister Smriti Irani’s claim about the cameras. .In a scathing order, a local court at Mapusa has observed that the Calangute police exercised their power of arrest arbitrarily against four staff members of Fabindia’s Candolim outlet who were held late on April 3, shortly after Union HRD minister Smriti Irani raised the alarm .
While granting the four bail on April 4, the Judicial Magistrate First Class court in its order, made public on Tuesday, came down heavily on the police officers for arresting the accused “without valid justification”.
Judge Dvijple Patkar observed, “It appears that the police have lightly interfered/tampered with the personal liberty of the applicants for reasons best known to them. It appears that the applicants were automatically & unnecessarily arrested by the police. In my opinion, the circumstances of the case do not warrant any arrest. The police officer exercising the power of arrest as well as the investigating officer has not stated any valid justification for the arrest.”
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The judge further held, “In the arrest panchanama, no reasons have been disclosed by the police inspector of Calangute police station which necessitated the arrest of the applicants.”
Referring to Article 21 of the Constitution of India, the court said it guarantees personal liberty to all irrespective of their status in society.
