A group of 23 jewellers today filed a petition in the Bombay High Court seeking action against six policemen for illegally detaining them at police station under false charges as they had refused to pay bribe. Hearing their plea,Justice Ajay Khanwilkar and Justice A R Joshi directed the police department and Maharashtra government to produce on August 6 the case papers that include statement of jewellers recorded by a magistrate's court,about alleged harassment by staff of Mulund police station. The petition,filed by Mulund Jewellers Welfare Association,alleged that its 23 members were summoned to the police station on January 31 and asked to pay the 'hafta' (bribe) by police men who claimed one of the traders had bought jewellery from a thief. The petitioner said that smaller jewellers were asked to cough up Rs 5,000 per month while the bigger ones Rs 10,000. However,as they refused to give in to the demand,senior police inspector Jeevajirao Jadhav allegedly ordered their arrest under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) on false charges and put them behind bars. The petition says the jewellers were arrested under IPC sections 144 (joining unlawful assembly with deadly weapon),145 (continuing in unlawful assembly),151 (continuing in unlawful assembly of five or more persons after knowing that it has been commanded to disperse) and 163 (person who obtains for himself or others illegal gratification). During their production before a magistrate's court in Mulund on February 1,the jewellers complained of unlawful detention and physical and mental torture against the police men. The court then sent them for medical test and recorded their statements before granting them bail. Petitioner's counsel Satyam Dube alleged in the high court that the arrest of the jewellers was "illegal and on false charges." Hearing their plea,the high court today called for the case papers in the metropolitan magistrate's court where their statements had been recorded. The jewellers alleged in the petition that officers of Mulund police station were "harassing" Pyarchand Sanghavi,a member of the Jewellers Association,on the pretext that he had purchased gold ornaments from a thief. However,Sanghavi had denied the charge,the petition said. The jewellers further said that when they informed police that Sanghavi had not made any such purchase as being claimed by the police,the cops abused them while threatening to implicate them under false cases. According to the petition,the police did not pay any heed to the plea of the association members to produce the thief to confront Sanghavi. The petition alleged that the policemen,on the contrary,demanded Rs 1 lakh to settle the matter to which the members did not agree. The petition stated that Rakesh Kumar Surada,a member of the Jewellers Association,had on February 1 filed a written complaint with the Maharashtra DGP about the bribe being sought by Mulund police and their threat to implicate them. The petition said that the jewellers' body had complained to city police commissioner Arup Patnaik,Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan,Home Minister R R Patil and Human Rights Commission in writing about the alleged harassment,but no action was taken.
