Police apologise to Melbourne doctor for wrongly accusing him of stealing a bottle of wine

Victoria Police has reached a confidential settlement with a Melbourne-based doctor after it used his photo in a Facebook post about a theft at a bottle shop in 2020.

Credit: Supplied

Key Points

• In 2020, Dr Prasannan Ponganaparambile found his picture in a theft-related Facebook post by Victoria Police
• He sued Victoria Police for defamation and "false imprisonment"
• Victoria Police and Dr Ponganaparambile have reached an out-of-court settlement

Victoria Police issued an official letter of apology to Dr Prasannan Ponganamparambile for using a CCTV image of him in a May 2020 social media post insinuating he had committed an act of theft.

Dr Ponganamparambile, who leads the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at Latrobe Regional Hospital, had sued Victoria Police for defamation and "false imprisonment".

In the letter from 17 August, Victoria Police Superintendent Craig Thornton said he acknowledged the "negative impact" and "distress" caused by the experience.

We acknowledge that you were not involved in any theft, and apologise for any insinuation that you may have been.

Victoria Police's letter of apology to Dr Prasannan Ponganamparambile

Stewart O'Connell, a lawyer from O'Brien Criminal & Civil Solicitors who was representing for Dr Ponganamparambile, said the matter did not proceed to court as it was settled between the parties prior to that.

"The matter has settled. Victoria Police have apologised to Dr Ponganamparambile for both the Facebook post that was on the Eyewatch Cardinia Police Service Area Facebook page and also for the treatment of Dr Ponganamparambile at the Pakenham police station," he said.

CCTV image of Dr Prasannan Ponganaparambile coming out of a bottle shop in May 2020. Credit: Supplied by County Court Of Victoria

‘’Dr Ponganamparambile was not involved in any way in any theft at all. The CCTV image was taken when he went to the liquor store to inquire about the price of an item that he had already purchased and he had a receipt for that purchase," Mr O'Connell said.

The details of the settlement are completely confidential, he added.

Facebook post

In May 2020, Dr Ponganamparambile found his picture in a post made to the Eyewatch Cardinia Police Service Area Facebook page.

The Facebook post stated that the photo was of a person the police were looking for in relation to a theft and urged people to come forward with information.

The image was removed from the Facebook page after nearly 48 hours, but not before the post was shared at least 77 times.

After discovering the Facebook post, Dr Ponganamparambile had voluntarily attended Pakenham police station with his wife and daughter.

The doctor claimed that he was taken into custody in the back of a caged police van and moved to the other side of the police station. He added that he had to sit on the floor of the van that had no safety restraint for nearly five minutes.

Credit: Supplied by Dr Ponganamparambile

When queried, Victoria Police sent the following statement via email to SBS Malayalam:

"Victoria Police has apologised to Dr Ponganamparambile for the error posted to an Eyewatch Facebook page in May, 2020.

"Victoria Police is regularly providing training to members responsible for posting to these social media pages.

"As the terms of the settlement were confidential it would be inappropriate to provide further comment."

A lesson for others

Dr Ponganamparambile told SBS Malayalam he is happy with the outcome.

In a situation like this, the letter of apology and terms of the settlement seem appropriate.

Dr Prasannan Ponganamparambile

Dr Ponganamparambile wants his example to be an eye-opener to other people who may be going through similar scenarios.

He said he explored all options available to get the justice he deserved, conducting extensive research about laws around using photos and other rights to know about his options.

Dr Ponganamparambile said many people may not go to that extent and probably give up.

Apart from claiming for damages by filing a case in court, I explained my case to the local MP. The MP sent a strong letter to the home minister and police commissioner.

Dr Prasannan Ponganamparambile

"Many think that migrants and others who have difficulty in accessing expensive resources won’t consider legal steps. But if your case is a strong one, there could be options," he said.

Mr O’Connell said the whole episode was extremely distressing to both Dr Ponganamparambile and his family, and should never have happened.

"We always hope when we take on an action like this, that it ends up resulting in some systemic change because the police shouldn't put people's photos on their Facebook page and use wording that suggests that the person is guilty of a crime," Mr O’Connell added.

The way the photo was used by the police was not appropriate, he said.

"They can certainly put photos up and say that they need to speak to someone in relation to something, but not in the terms that they did here with Dr Ponganamparambile and police should not lock up people who attend police stations voluntarily merely for the purpose of taking them to be interviewed."