The Supreme Court on Monday stayed the Bombay High Court order of March 21 for initiating disciplinary proceedings against Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime branch) for arresting a lawyer for illegally possessing call detail records (CDRs) of actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s wife.
A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud issued a notice to lawyer Rizwan Siddiqui and asked him to file his reply within four weeks, on a petition filed by Maharashtra government.
Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the state government, contended the High Court passed a “completely illegal order” for the release of the lawyer on a habeas corpus petition filed by his wife.
The HC even went ahead to order departmental proceedings against the senior police officer, he contended.
Senior advocate C A Sundaram, representing Siddiqui, claimed there was a flagrant violation of Section 41(A) of the Criminal Procedure Code which mandated giving the accused time to appear before the police. The arrest was made in violation of Article 21 (right to life and liberty) of the Constitution, he said.
To this, the bench asked him, “Why did you not challenge the remand order?” The court, however, asked the counsel to file a response to the special leave petition filed by the state government. (DH)
