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In addition to the ₹10 lakh awarded to Thajudheen, the court granted ₹1 lakh each to his wife and three children for the mental agony, harassment, and reputational damage suffered
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The state government has been given the liberty to recover the compensation amount from the erring police officers after following due legal procedure
The Kerala High Court has awarded ₹10 lakh as compensation to V K Thajudheen, a Non-Resident Indian (NRI), after ruling that he was illegally arrested and wrongfully detained by police in connection with a gold chain-snatching case in 2018. The court held that the incident resulted in severe personal, professional, and emotional hardship for Thajudheen and his family.
A native of Thalassery, Thajudheen had returned to Kerala on short leave from Qatar to arrange his daughter’s marriage when the incident occurred. On the night of July 11, 2018, while returning home with his wife and children, the family was stopped by a police team near their residence at Kadirur. The officers initially sought help to free their vehicle stuck in mud. Though the family complied, Thajudheen, who was suffering from back pain, remained seated in the car.
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Despite being informed of his medical condition, police officers allegedly dragged him out of the vehicle, photographed him without consent, and accused him of being involved in a chain-snatching incident
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The family was taken to the Chakkarakkal police station in the early hours of the morning, where Thajudheen was shown CCTV footage of a bearded man and falsely identified as the accused
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Ignoring objections raised by his wife and children regarding the mismatch in identity, police arrested him and seized his passport
Thajudheen was remanded to judicial custody for 54 days. His prolonged detention prevented him from reporting back to work in Qatar, leading to a further 23 days of imprisonment there for non-compliance with employment requirements and eventual loss of his job.
In its judgment, the High Court observed that the police failed to exercise even basic care and caution while examining the evidence. The court noted that had the officers properly evaluated the material on record and considered the family’s objections, the wrongful arrest could have been avoided.
The court also took note of the wider impact of the incident, which attracted national attention and was later chronicled in a 2023 book, The Stolen Necklace, detailing Thajudheen’s ordeal.
