NHRC orders action against DCP for placing real estate agent under house arrest

MUMBAI: Taking cognisance of a complaint filed by Mira Road resident Rajendra Goyal, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has ordered the Mira Bhayandar-Vasai Virar (MBVV) police to conduct detailed investigations into the allegations of a real estate agent that deputy commissioner of police (DCP) Amit Kale and an inspector tortured and kept him under house arrest for five days without any valid reasons.
The NHRC has asked the commissioner of police to file an action-taken report in the matter within four weeks.
According to Goyal, a real estate agent, the incident occurred in September 2022, when a false FIR was registered against him, and he was subsequently placed under house arrest. He said that he was not allowed to go out for five days, from September 23 to September 29. The action was taken on orders allegedly issued by DCP Kale.
Goyal said the police did this to torture him after he filed an intervention application opposing the pre-arrest bail plea moved by a former BJP legislator in an offence registered against him and his wife by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) in May 2022 in a disproportionate assets case.
“I had written something on WhatsApp and circulated it after which the police had booked me under penal sections of the Information Technology Act, which was a false case,” said Goyal.
Despite his complaints to the MBVV police and the state police complaints authority (PCA), no action was taken against Kale, prompting Goyal to approach the NHRC which directed the copy of the complaint to be sent to the police commissioner for appropriate action. Since despite the order, the commissioner failed to take any action, the NHRC considered it as an act of willful disobedience of its directions.
The commission then directed the MBVV commissioner Madhukar Pandey to take appropriate action in the matter and submit an action-taken report within four weeks, failing which, it would be constrained to invoke coercive steps under section 13 of the Protection of Human Rights (PHR) Act, 1993 which grants the NHRC the same powers as a civil court when investigating complaints.
“I have waited for a long time but now at least the NHRC is doing something on this, which is commendable,” Goyal said, reacting on the development.