By Salim Mutuma
The Inspector-General of Police has been ordered to pay the Meru man who was forced by police officers to spend a night in the rain besides a casket bearing his late wife’s body Sh1.5 million for inhumane treatment.
The 32-year-old Charles Mwenda was mistreated in May 2020 while travelling alongside 31 other mourners, including his mother and two children, from Mombasa to Meru for the burial of his spouse who had succumbed to cancer.
On reaching Keeria Market at Meru-Tharaka Nithi border, the officers enforcing curfew rules flagged down the bus and directed the rest of the mourners back to Malindi before ordering the complainant into a police vehicle that took him to Kianjai Police Station.
This, reports indicate, happened despite them producing a travel permit issued by Malindi Sub-County Police Commander.
At the station, Mr Mwenda was left to spend the night outside forcing him to place the casket under a lorry that had been parked in the compound.
Through his lawyer Vivian Wambulwa, the man narrated to a Meru court how he had pleaded with the officers to allow him transport the casket to his home to no avail.
While issuing the ruling, Meru High Court Judge Edward Muriithi found the officers culpable saying the complainant was treated in an inhumane manner and his rights violated.
