The court made Additional DCP Dishesh Agrawal and Chandan Nagar police station in-charge Indramani Patel Respondents No. 2 and 3 in the case, while adding the Indore Police Commissioner as Respondent No. 5. The Commissioner has been asked to file a detailed affidavit by December 9, specifying the action initiated against the officers for misleading the court.
According to the Supreme Court, the officers claimed Hussain was linked to eight criminal cases. A scrutiny of records, however, revealed that four of those cases did not name him. One of the cited offences was a 2023 case allegedly registered under IPC Section 376. The investigation later confirmed that the matter pertained to illegal firearms possession under the Arms Act and involved another individual, Karan Pawar. The bench observed that the officers’ submissions were “distorted” and aimed at misleading judicial proceedings.
A similar affidavit had earlier been filed before the Indore bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court, again linking Hussain to eight cases. The High Court found that only three cases were legitimately registered against him, with five entries either incorrect or unrelated.
Senior advocate Neeraj Soni, appearing for Hussain, argued that the officers’ actions violated his client’s fundamental rights and personal liberty. Following this, the Supreme Court said it could not rely on the affidavits submitted by the police.
In a subsequent filing, the police admitted that several of the cases mentioned belonged to a different person with the same name. They also acknowledged that the rape case cited was erroneously linked to Hussain.
The Supreme Court will review the Commissioner’s affidavit in the next hearing, signalling that accountability for the false information will be closely examined.
