The Kerala High Court has put on hold for two months arrest of several forest officials accused of falsely implicating a member of a Scheduled Tribe community in a criminal case and assaulting him.
Justice Kauser Edappagath granted the interim protection from arrest to the forest officials, saying that the man never raised these allegations, including that of assault, when he was produced before a lower court.
The Kerala High Court has put on hold for two months arrest of several forest officials accused of falsely implicating a member of a Scheduled Tribe community in a criminal case and assaulting him.
Justice Kauser Edappagath granted the interim protection from arrest to the forest officials, saying that the man never raised these allegations, including that of assault, when he was produced before a lower court.
"When the de facto complainant was produced before court in connection with the said crime, there was no allegation of any assault. Considering all these aspects, there shall be an order that the petitioners shall not be arrested till the next posting date, that is, after two months," the High Court said in its order on Friday.
The order came on the joint plea moved by the officials from Idukki, who had arrested the complainant in September for possessing around two kg of meat of a wild animal.
He was arrested while transporting the meat in his autorickshaw.
The officials, in their plea, had claimed that the complaint against them was made to allegedly wreak vengeance for catching the complainant red-handed with the meat.
-With PTI Input