Kerala HC bench stays compensation for youth once arrested for alleged Maoist link

The directive to pay compensation was part of the high court verdict, which said being a Maoist is not a crime and that a person cannot be arrested merely because is one.

The stay on the order to pay compensation came when the government appealed the division bench against the single bench ruling.

Balakrishnan, son of a former high court judge, was illegally picked up by police last year on suspicion of being a Maoist.
Alleging police harassment, Balakrishnan moved the high court against the police, claiming that the police action infringed on Article 21 of the Constitution.

The court had then said, “being a Maoist is no crime. Freedom of thought and liberty of conscience is a natural right. Freedom becomes unlawful only when it concerns the physical law of the State.”