Africa-Press – Uganda. In a decisive move against abuse of authority, the court has slapped a Shs40 million compensatory fine against a police officer at Namutumba Police Station.
The ruling stems from a decision by Ms Stella Nankunda to detain two court process servers, Michael Kaluusi and Richard Mwesigwa.
“I take note of the fact that the respondent (officer Nankunda) acted out with gross impunity towards the applicants (Mr Kaluusi and Mr Mwesigwa), this kind of excesses by the people in authority towards citizens to whom they are accountable, should be condemned at all costs,” ruled presiding Chief Magistrate Daniel Epobu Kiboko of Iganga Court on Wednesday.
“In the instant case, I find that the confinement of the applicants for five hours without justification violated their rights to personal liberty. For those reasons above, I award the applicants Shs40m as compensation,” he ruled.
The court also ordered Ms Nankunda, who is also the officer-in-charge of the Criminal Investigations Department at Namutumba Police Station, to issue a written apology to the duo within 30 days of the ruling.
Despite calls for her dismissal, the court deemed the hefty fine as sufficient.
“Counsel invited the court to invoke its inherent powers according to Section 98 of the Civil Procedure Act to order for the dismissal of the respondent from the Uganda Police Force. I find the award of Shs40m sufficient to reform the respondent within the Force,” the magistrate said.
Court documents show that the duo on December 14, 2023, had gone to report a case of assault against Logose Sulaina at Namutumba Police Station but instead, they were detained on the orders of officer Nankunda for five hours without any wrongdoing.
This was after Logose assaulted the duo who had gone to serve her court documents since she was a defendant in a separate civil case.
The court process servers were not informed of the reasons for their confinement.
“The respondent’s act of confining the applicants yet they were practising their profession was uncalled for. The applicants did identify themselves to the respondent as court process servers but all this fell on deaf ears of the respondent,” the magistrate held.
“Even if the respondent had doubts over the identity of the applicants, she would have verified the same through various electronic means from the entity that the applicants stated were their employers, other than confining them,” he added.
About seven years ago, the Constitutional Court in a landmark judgment, held that errant police officers can and should be sued for inflicting torture on people in their personal capacities even when on official duty.
This position of the court differed from the earlier one that protected government officials who committed torture crimes and would go scot-free since it would be the Attorney General to be sued and pay the court awards, if any.
For More News And Analysis About Uganda Follow Africa-Press
