This Maharashtra cop gets an English lesson by the Bombay High Court

Bad grammar can lead to worse trouble than merely low grades at school, a police official discovered recently to his own peril. The Bombay High Court recently rapped this official for insisting on filing an affidavit on his own and not letting the public prosecutor correct his language. This was during a petition filed by a person challenging preventive detention. The High Court set aside his detention, which was ordered under a stringent Maharashtra law, dealing with druglords, bootleggers and drug offenders. You can read The Times of India’s report on the judgment here. [caption id=“attachment_2205808” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Bombay High Court. Image courtesy- Reuters[/caption] So miffed was the court with the police official’s language, that it asked the state government’s principal secretary and the home secretary to take note of the issue. The judges hearing the case noted that such errors can leave the court with no option but to release the person who was detained. “By their over-anxiety and over-enthusiasm, they (police) should not spoil the matters and cases of the state,” the court said. From a reading of the affidavit, which was quoted in the judgment, it appears that the court had good reason to be unhappy. Sample this extract from the affidavit: “I felt that the detenue was likely to released on bail in future therefore before arriving my subjectively satisfaction that detenue is likely to be released on bail this was the particulars relied by me and therefore my subject to sanctification regarding the possibility of the detenue may be released on bail is not the speculation but it is my subject to sanctification that if detenue may be granted the bail by the Hon’ble High Court and detenue is likely to repeat the similar activities prejudicial to the maintenance of public order.”   Peace be upon the souls of Wren and Martin.