Kendrapara: In a highly irresponsible act by the police, a primary school principal was mistakenly arrested on another person's warrant and detained for over three hours in Aul in Odisha's Kendrapara district today. 

He was released after police verified his biometric details and realised that they had got hold of the wrong person. The teacher, identified as Sabikkuddin Khan, headmaster in-charge of Boulajodi Primary School, alleged that he was kept in custody without any probable cause and treated like a criminal by the cops. 

As per reports, a team of police led by Aul IIC Purnachandra Patayat suddenly turned up at Khan's residence on Tuesday morning and arrested him. When asked for identity details, Khan and his wife shared their names to which the IIC dismissed as 'lies'. Without any clarification, the cops nabbed him and took him to the police station in their van. They allegedly detained him in the lockup for over three hours only to realise while vetting documents that they had arrested the wrong person. 

While Khan was released soonafter, the wrongful detention triggered massive outrage among the primary teachers' fraternity who reached the police station and staged a protest. "Khan Sir could come to school today because of this unlawful detention. The police not just arrested him by mistake, they also misbehaved with him before even establishing the correct identity. It is an insult to the entire teaching community. We want the district administration to address this issue immediately," said member of Primary Teachers' Association Ratikant Patra. 

Recounting the horrifying experience, Khan said the police did not even give him a clarification while arresting him randomly from his house. " I was arrested without any explanation. They did not even allow me to clarify before shoving me into the police van. For over three hours, I was in the lockup and treated like a criminal. For a respectable, law-abiding citizen, nothing can salvage the ignominy of police detention. It is not only humiliating but extremely traumatic. This incident has not just damaged my public reputation, it has also tarnished my image in my locality where people saw me being taken by the cops. I want my dignity to be restored with full public acknowldgement. The district administration must immediately respond to this reprehensible behaviour by the police," he told mediapersons. 

Police, meanwhile, did not issue any official clarification in this connection.