Recover Rs 10 lakh penalty from officials behind illegal arrest: HC

Lucknow: Taking a stern view of an illegal arrest, a Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court has imposed a cost of Rs 10 lakh on the Uttar Pradesh government, observing that the amount may be recovered from the erring officials.

A division bench of Justice Abdul Moin and Justice Pramod Kumar Srivastava passed the order, allowing a habeas corpus petition. The court also expressed displeasure over the affidavit filed by the additional chief secretary (home), noting that it failed to explain why heavy cost should not be imposed for keeping the petitioner in illegal custody for over three months.

It was submitted that the petitioner Manoj Kumar was arrested on Jan 27, 2026, in connection with a case registered at Asiwan police station in Unnao district. The petitioner contended that he was not informed of the grounds of arrest, in violation of Articles 21 and 22(1) of the Constitution of India .

Relying on Supreme Court rulings in Mihir Rajesh Shah vs State of Maharashtra and Dr Rajinder Rajan vs Union of India, the HC held that communicating the grounds of arrest in writing is a mandatory constitutional requirement and merely mentioning the case crime number is not sufficient.

The bench found serious procedural lapses in the arrest of the petitioner and held that the remand order passed by the magistrate, being based on an illegal arrest, was also liable to be set aside.

Observing that the petitioner had been illegally incarcerated for more than three months, the court termed it a grave violation of personal liberty. It directed that the petitioner be released forthwith, if not wanted in any other case.
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