The High Court of Kerala has held that ‘‘being a Maoist is of no crime, though the political ideology of the Maoist will not synchronize with our constitutional polity.” The “police cannot detain a person merely because he is a Maoist, unless the police form a reasonable opinion that his activities are unlawful.”
The court also ordered the Government, to pay a compensation of Rs.100,000 and Rs.10000 each for the petitioner. Justice A. Muhammed Mustaque in his ruling said that, it is not wrong if a person believes the ideology of a Maoist. However, it indicated that a person can be held if he does anything unlawful with his Maoist ideologies.
The court pointed out the mistake of the Police saying that they had violated the liberty of a person, without having known completely whether the petioner had committed any crime or not.
The State, the judgment said, “stridently defended the police action as part of duty to combat Maoist. The liberty of the individual, however small or high, had to be protected. The police should display sensitiveness and appeal to the intelligence while exercising the power bestowed on them. Any aberration on this exercise resulting deprivation even by mistake has to be owned up with responsibility to create a sense of accountability to honour a citizen,” the court pointed out, The Hindu reports.