The Bombay High Court The Bombay High Court

The Bombay High Court Wednesday told the petitioner’s lawyer in the Malwani raids case not to give a political colour to the incident.

Advocate Shilpi Jain had suggested that instances of moral policing “seemed to have increased since a particular government took over.” “Don’t blame the government for it. Are you suggesting that such incidents did not take place earlier?” Justice Kanade said.

A bench of Justice V M Kanade and Justice Revati Mohite-Dere was hearing a Public Interest Litigation that said the raids on hotels in suburban Malwani last year was wrongful exercise of power by the police. On August 6, 2015, the Mumbai police had raided hotels located along the beach in the city’s northern suburbs and booked couples on charges of indecency. Sixty-four people, including 13 women, had been taken to the police station.

The High Court said that that while conducting inquiries and checks against unauthorised activities was part of the duty of the police, it must refrain from taking a moral stand on issues. “The police must exercise caution and keep in mind that the citizens’ Right to privacy cannot be trampled,” the bench said.

The court said that since some arrests were made from outside the hotels, it would only examine the contention regarding the arrest of people rounded up from inside the hotels.

Jain said that directions should be passed to suspend officers responsible for the raids and the couples who were detained wrongly must be compensated.

The state had earlier said that most of the couples who were at these lodges at the time had refused to furnish their identities and hence, the police was forced to detain them. The court has now asked the state under what provisions the disclosure of identities was mandatory and will hear the arguments on the next date of hearing.

📣 The Indian Express is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@indianexpress) and stay updated with the latest headlines

For all the latest Mumbai News, download Indian Express App.