Patna, Jan 15: The Patna High Court has held the arrest of a Muslim minor student by the Bihar police to be “unlawful” after he was kept in jail for over two months, and ordered the State to pay him Rs 5 lakh as compensation but directing recovery from the officials responsible, asserting that it could not remain a “mute spectator”.
The boy’s family had filed a habeas corpus petition, seeking release of the petitioner from what they described as “illegal detention.”
A bench comprising Justices Rajeev Ranjan Prasad and Ritesh Kumar emphasised that his detention was unjustified, making the police accountable for their actions.
The Bench pointed out that the Investigating Officer arrested the minor, aged under 16, without any solid reason or evidence, something that should not have happened.
It added that the minor had suffered “physical and mental agony” for over two months and instructed the government to pay within one month of the ruling.
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