The High Court of Tripura has found Sub-Inspector (SI) Saikat Dey of the East Agartala police station guilty of making an illegal arrest.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice M.S. Ramachandra Rao and Justice Biswajit Palit ordered Sub-Inspector Saikat Dey—who was accused of making an arrest in violation of the Supreme Court's guidelines—to pay a fine of Rs 2,000 within the next four weeks.
The High Court further directed that failure to deposit the fine would result in one month of imprisonment. Instances of a police officer being convicted and punished for an illegal arrest are unprecedented in recent times. In Friday’s order, the High Court strongly reprimanded the Police Department and the Agartala Municipal Corporation for framing a false police case, filing misleading affidavits to hide the truth, and making fabricated allegations.
Notably, based on a writ petition filed by Ratna Roy, a resident of Banamalipur, the High Court initiated contempt of court proceedings against East Agartala police station Sub-Inspector Saikat Dey. The Agartala Municipal Corporation’s Task Force had obstructed construction work at Ratna Roy’s residence. Rabindranath Ghosh, a worker of the Task Force, demanded a bribe of ₹2,00,000 from Ratna Roy’s son, Saikat Saha.
When the bribe was refused, a gang of miscreants led by Rabindranath Ghosh and Joy Debnath attacked Ratna Roy's house on the night of April 4th, 2026. Saikat Saha was brutally beaten, and Ratna Roy and her husband were also assaulted. Saikat Saha was then abducted, brought to the East Agartala Police Station, and subjected to sexual harassment. Rabindranath Ghosh and Joy Debnath tortured Saikat Saha right in front of the police officers on duty at the station. To cover this up, a false case was fabricated, and the victim himself was arrested.
Ratna Roy went to the police station on April 6th to file an FIR, but the East Agartala Police Station refused to register it. Even after informing the Director General of Police (DGP) and the Superintendent of Police (SP) of West Tripura District, no action was taken. Finally, after a writ petition was filed in the High Court, the police station was forced to accept the FIR under intense questioning from the court.
Following the High Court's directions, the Chief Justice of Tripura seized the CCTV footage of the East Agartala Police Station. Afterward, the Home Department submitted an affidavit denying all allegations. However, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed by the order of the High Court submitted its preliminary investigation report, confirming that the allegations made in the writ petition were fundamentally true and correct. Following severe reprimands from the High Court over the preliminary report, the state government was forced to temporarily suspend six police officers, including the Officer-in-Charge (OC) of the East Agartala Police Station.
The High Court also directed the state government to take action against the Home Secretary for submitting a misleading and false affidavit. Consequently, the state government withdrew its previous affidavit and submitted a new one through the Home Secretary, in which the state government admitted that the allegations made by the writ petitioner were correct.
The High Court also raised serious questions regarding the role of the Agartala Municipal Corporation. The High Court did not approve the recruitment of temporary workers in the Task Force. Since the High Court could not trust the police investigation, today’s order stated that the investigation would proceed under the direct observation of a Special Investigation Team monitored by the High Court.
It is worth noting that the police were eventually forced to arrest the two main accused, Rabindranath Ghosh and Joy Debnath. Their current address is prison. Both accused have been dismissed from their jobs by the Police Department and the Agartala Municipal Corporation.
Friday’s (July 2nd, 2026) order and observations by the High Court clearly highlight how citizens are harassed and tortured across all levels of administration, from the top tier to the grassroots. Instead of redressing injustice and crime, no stone was left unturned to hush it up and pass off lies as the truth. Senior advocate Purushottam Roy Barman, along with advocates Samarjit Bhattacharjee, Kaushik Nath, and Tirtharaj Dhar, fought the case on behalf of the writ petitioner.