Cuttack, July 15: Orissa High Court lawyer Pratima Das, arrested for her alleged links with Maoists, has claimed a compensation of Rs 20 lakh from the state government for keeping her ‘illegally’ confined in jail custody for over two years till acquittal by trial court.
Das has made the claim by way of a petition to the principal secretary of home department on Thursday. The lawyer has also sought “legal action against the police officials responsible for commission of creating false evidence to implicate her in two cases”.
According to the petition, the lawyer, who is a resident of Choudwar, was arrested by the police on August 12, 2008. She was ‘falsely’ implicated in a criminal case registered at the Raghunathpur police station in Jagatsinghpur district. Charged with sedition, she was remanded in jail custody by the court of sub-divisional judicial magistrate on the next day.
While the lawyer was in Alipingala jail, police ‘falsely’ implicated her in another criminal case registered at the Jamankira police station in Sambalpur district.
“In both the cases, I faced trial while in jail custody at Alipingala and subsequently at Kuchinda. I was deprived of my liberty for a total period of 2 years 3 months 4 days from August 13, 2008, to acquittal on November 17, 2010.”
In both the cases, “the prosecution could not prove my involvement in any of the alleged offences. The cases failed in the trial court because the witnesses did not support the false and foisted evidence created by police and I was acquitted,” the petitioner said.
“An amount of Rs 20 lakh may be awarded as a compensation for such false imprisonment and failure of the state to protect my life, liberty and livelihood,” the lawyer said.
“I not only suffered violation of fundamental liberty but was also forced to undergo personal, emotional and financial hardship. Besides, my profession/livelihood was adversely affected. Members of my family also faced irreparable loss for my false imprisonment for a period of over 27 months,” the petitioner said.
