On June 16, a Mumbai court freed a guy who had been detained by police on suspicion of theft plotting. Police identified the guy around midnight on June 13 in front of the Warden Road Mart, with a cloth across his face. While acquitting the guy, the court stated that wearing a handkerchief did not imply the accused was attempting to conceal his identity.
THE CASE;
The man was arrested by Mumbai police after being discovered under ‘suspicious circumstances between sunrise and sunset’. On June 13, at 1:30 a.m., police found the guy in front of the Warden Road Mart in Mumbai’s Gaondevi neighbourhood. The accused was seated in the dark near a wine shop, his face covered by a handkerchief. The cops searched him but found nothing unusual. According to the police, they questioned him about what he was doing in the neighbourhood, but he could not respond satisfactorily.
According to the police, he was ‘hiding his face and did not provide a clear explanation’. The police then concluded that ‘he planned to commit theft’ and transported him to the Gaondevi Police Station, where an FIR was lodged against him. The FIR was filed under Section 122B of the Maharashtra Police Act, which states that anybody identified between dawn and sunset with his face concealed or disguised with the intent to commit an offence can be charged.
The Metropolitan Magistrate, Nadeem Patel, stated that in order to be penalised under Section 122B of the Maharashtra Police Act, the prosecution must demonstrate that the accused was concealing his identity in order to commit a specific act. The magistrate stated that no witnesses in the current instance detailed the offence that the accused intended to conduct.
The court ruled that 1:30 a.m. is not too late in a metropolis like Mumbai. ‘Anyone can stand on the road. Therefore, it cannot be said that he was hiding his identity with the intent to commit an offence,’ the court said. Even if it was considered that 1:30 a.m. was too late, the court stated that wandering on the streets is not an offence when there is no night curfew.
The court also stated that because the Covid virus is still present, individuals must wear masks for their own protection. ‘Handkerchiefs are used as masks when no masks are available. Just because the accused wore a handkerchief as a mask does not entail he was concealing his identity,’ the court stated. In issuing the acquittal judgement, magistrate Patel stated that the accused had revealed his identify to the police and was not concealing his identity.
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