courtesy Nation Media Group.
Judge Edward Muriithi of the High Court in Meru awarded Charles Mwenda Sh1.5 million.A man who spent a night in the rain and next to a casket carrying the body of his wife outside a police station in Meru. Stating that the police used excessive force when they arrested Mwenda, 32, and treated him inhumanely as he travelled to bury his wife.
Mwenda narrated how during the night, he pleaded with the police in vain to be allowed to transport the casket to his home which is only five kilometres away.“Police left me alone in the rain. I dragged the casket all alone and sheltered it under the lorry that was parked near Kianjai police post. Stagnant water entered the casket,’’ Mr Mwenda said in an affidavit.
Dissatisfied, he filed a petition at the High Court in Meru through lawyer Vivian Wambulwa, urging the court to find that he was treated in an inhumane manner. On Wednesday, Justice Muriithi agreed that police acted extra judicially and in breach of fundamental rights and violated his rights under Article 28 of the Constitution of Kenya to be treated with human dignity.
This is however not the first incident reported of police using excessive force past curfew. The human rights groups in Kenya say police are using excessive force while enforcing a nighttime curfew to contain the coronavirus. The groups say the excessive force has left at least a dozen people dead and hundreds more with life-threatening injuries.
