Published 13th Aug, 2022

By Tola Owoyele

An unnamed Nigerian man has been awarded Rs 2 lakhs, an equivalent of N1.5 million, by a court in Bombay, India, after he was wrongfully imprisoned for 22 months by the country’s law enforcement officials.

According to the Times of India, the 27-year-old Nigerian was arrested in October 2020 after the police found a substance that was presumed to be cocaine in his possession.

In February 2021, a report by a forensic science laboratory claimed the seized substance contained lidocaine, tapentadol and caffeine, all of which fall under the country’s narcotic drugs and psychotropic substance act.

As a result of the findings, the Nigerian’s bail plea was rejected in June 2021.

However, on August 10, it was revealed that there had been a typing mistake in the report submitted by the laboratory 18 months earlier.

The laboratory had apologised and issued a corrigendum after the substance recovered from the Nigerian was found to be neither a narcotic drug nor a psychotropic substance.

“I deem it appropriate to impose cost for the unlawful incarceration and direct the state to compensate the appellant by paying a sum of Rs 2 lakhs within six weeks,” said Bharati Dangre, the presiding judge.

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