Gassan Maumoon sues Police Chief Superintendent Jinah for unlawful arrest
22 Nov 2011, 5:54 PM
Ahmed Nazeer
Gassan Maumoon, son of former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, has filed a case at the Civil Court against Chief Superintendent of Police Mohamed Jinah, claiming that Gassan was unlawfully arrested on his order.
Gassan’s lawyer Mohamed Waheed Ibrahim ‘Wadde’ confirmed that the case was filed yesterday.
Gassan was arrested last month on allegations that he hurled a wooden plank at protesters from his balcony on October 20. A 17 year-old was critically injured after the plank struck him on the head, resulting in skull fractures and paralysis down his left side.
Waheed told local media this week that Jinah’s order to arrest Gassan was unconstitutional and violated provisions of the police act. The Civil Court was requested to determine that Jinah’s order was unlawful.
Chief Judge of the Criminal Court Abdulla Mohamed had ruled that Gassan’s arrest was unlawful and ordered his immediate release.
The Judicial Services Commission (JSC) has recently competed a report on Abdulla Mohamed detailing the judge’s misconduct, notably politically-biased comments given to opposition-aligned private broadcaster DhiTV.
Contacted for a comment today, Chief Superintended Jinah referred Minivan News to Police Spokesperson Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam.
Shiyam said police did not wish to comment on a case involving the arrest of a specific individual.
“Besides, the police have not been officially informed of this case,” he added.
Following his release by the Criminal Court, Jinah held a press conference and exhibited video footage of the plank hitting the 17 year-old.
Jinah had said at the press conference on October 16 that police wished to “reveal the truth” about the incident as “deliberately false allegations have been made against police using the media” to bring the institution into disrepute and cast aspersions on senior officers.
Police decided to reveal the video footage to the public because “many people have been using different media to claim that [the incident] never happened and make serious allegations against police,” Jinah had said.