Kalra Sent To Judicial Custody For 14 Days

But Court Says Police Remand Not Warranted

- Aamir Khan

New Delhi: Stating that courts couldn’t be expected to get carried away by public sentiments and authorise detention merely on the basis of some stringent and non-bailable sections invoked against the accused, a city court on Thursday remanded businessman Navneet Kalra, arrested in an alleged case of hoarding and black marketing of oxygen concentrators, to 14 days in judicial custody.

Duty magistrate Akanksha Garg observed that the offence was of a grave nature and had serious implications on the society at large. “In these testing times, when utmost humanity and compassion have been exhibited by people, a few miscreants in the society have resorted to vices like hoarding and black-marketing of essential drugs and medical equipment that could otherwise have averted so much death and destruction,” the court noted.

However, the order stated, “Courts are not expected to be carried away by public sentiments and, therefore, cannot authorise detention merely because some stringent and non-bailable sections have been slapped upon the accused by the prosecution. It is their sacrosanct responsibility to apply their judicial mind and delve into the said question deeply.”