B.V. Seetaram case: Court Imposes Costs on Karnataka for ‘For illegally detaining’
The Hindu
BANGALORE, Feb 12: The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday imposed costs of Rs. 10,000 on the State for illegally detaining B.V. Seetaram, managing director of Chitra Publications, Mangalore, and also deprecated the mechanical manner in which magistrates issued body warrants against him.
It partly allowed a habeas corpus petition by S. Rohini, wife of Mr. Seetaram, against his illegal detention and made absolute an interim order it had passed on February 3, 2009 releasing him forthwith. Coming down on the police, a Division Bench said there seemed to be an attempt by them to detain Mr. Seetaram in one case or another.
The Bench said on going through the case papers (in cases booked against Mr. Seetaram), prima facie, “We find that there is concerted effort to detain Seetaram from January 17, 2009. The delay of two days in sending bail order to the jail authorities and, therefore, delay in getting the personal bond executed stares in our face.”
It said there “are no records to show that any effort was made to get the personal bond signed by the accused [Seetaram]. It appears to us that it is only after the writ petition was filed and an interim order granted by this court that the personal bond has been signed.”
Rs. 10,000 costs
It held as illegal the detention of Mr. Seetaram from January 19, 2009 to February 2, 2009 and levied costs of Rs. 10,000 on the State and ordered that it be paid to Mr. Seetaram within four weeks.