Right To Personal Liberty: False Imprisonment

By Ubong S. Ebong Esq. -

First up, lets talk about false imprisonment which popped up from what I was reading today.

False imprisonment is simply the unlawful & unjustified hindrance or obstruction of a person's right to move freely. It is also compelling someone to remain in a place against his will without lawful justification. This area of law is guaranteed by sections 35 & 41 of the Constitution which give every Nigerian the right to have their personal liberty or freedom & the right to move freely anywhere in Nigeria.

To establish false imprisonment, the victim MUST NOT necessarily be confined in a prison or cell but it could happen anywhere even in public places. It may not involve the use of force but there must be some form of restraint or hindrance which must be total in the sense that there is no reasonable means of escape. And most importantly, the act must be done without any lawful justification. Where for instance a person is caught committing a crime & is detained, such is legally justified & would not amount to false imprisonment. Also where a particular place has clear rules which if broken would entitle them to detain you, by voluntarily entering such a place you have consented to be bound by those rules & if you are detained for breaking those rules it would be legally justified.

There are several ways false imprisonment could occur but let me just emphasize on one interesting scenario, namely where a person reports another to the police & the police arrests & detains the reported person. Now as patriotic citizens, private individuals are encouraged to report perpetrators of illegal acts to the police & this is lawful & highly commendable. *But where a person maliciously reports another to the police without any reasonable or probable cause & because of such report the other is arrested & detained, this amounts to false imprisonment* .

When false imprisonment occurs, the proper thing to do is not to retaliate or react violently as it is the habit of most Nigerians to do. Rather the proper thing to do is to get a lawyer who will prosecute your matter in court & get adequate monetary compensation for you.

So now you know what false imprisonment is.
#KYR

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