Cuttack, Nov. 20: High court lawyer Pratima Das has claimed compensation of Rs 20 lakh from the state government for “illegal confinement in jail custody” for more than two years following arrest for alleged links with Maoists till acquittal by trial court.
Pratima, who was in jail for 27 months till she was acquitted, has filed a petition in the high court for compensation for “false imprisonment” and “failure of the state to protect her life, liberty and livelihood”.
The 28-year-old lawyer has turned to the high court after a petition for Rs 20 lakh compensation to the principal secretary of the home department in July yielded no tangible result. She also sought “legal action against the police officials responsible for commission of creating false evidence to implicate in two cases”.
The petition has not yet been taken up by the high court for hearing. Pratima was arrested on August 12, 2008 and implicated in a criminal case registered at the Raghunathpur police station in Jagatsinghpur district.
Charged with sedition, she was remanded in jail custody the next day by the court of the sub-divisional judicial magistrate.While she was in Alipingala jail, police implicated her in another criminal case registered at the Jamankira police station in Sambalpur.
“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. But in both the cases, the prosecution could not prove my involvement in any of the offences. The cases failed in the trial court because the witnesses did not support the false evidence created by police and I was acquitted,” the petition said.
“I not only suffered violation of fundamental liberty, but was also forced to undergo personal, emotional and financial hardships. Also, my profession was adversely affected. Members of my family also faced irreparable loss for my false imprisonment for over 27 months,” the petition claimed.
