The Allahabad High Court awarded Chandan Rajbhar compensation for five days of illegal police detention. The ruling condemned abuse of authority and permitted a separate damages suit.Prayagraj,Nov 2, 2026 23:00 ISTThe Allahabad High Court has awarded Rs 1.25 lakh in compensation to a man who was illegally detained by the police for five days, news agency Press Trust of India reported.
The court said the investigating officer had displayed an arrogance of authority by detaining him without following the legal procedure.A bench of Justices Atul Sreedharan and Achal Sachdev ordered compensation of Rs 25,000 for each day of Chandan Rajbhar's unlawful detention. It also directed that he be released immediately if he was not required in any other case.The bench passed the order while allowing a petition filed by Gyanti Devi and two others seeking the release of Rajbhar, a resident of Deoria.
It clarified that the compensation would not prevent him from suing the police department separately for damages.The court said the harshest punishment should be considered for the investigating officer's deliberate actions if he was found guilty of the charges in the departmental inquiry. According to the case details, an FIR was registered at Salempur police station in Deoria on July 18 under Section 87 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Suraksha Sanhita, which deals with claims and objections to the attachment of property.
The complainant, the mother of the third petitioner, alleged that Rajbhar had eloped with her 18-year-old daughter.The petitioners said Rajbhar and the complainant's daughter later married at a Durga temple in Siwan, Bihar, and moved to Pune, where they lived together as husband and wife. They alleged that police personnel, accompanied by the woman's father, reached the couple's home in Pune on the intervening night of August 24 and 25 and took them into custody.
The couple was brought to the police station concerned on the intervening night of August 27 and 28.Rajbhar said he was illegally detained from August 28 to September 2, while his arrest memo was prepared only on September 2.The state counsel cited an inquiry report dated October 21, prepared by the circle officer, which acknowledged that investigating officer Deep Narayan Yadav had deliberately taken Rajbhar into custody on August 28 and kept him in illegal confinement until September 2, when his formal arrest was recorded, PTI reported.Following the report, the Deoria superintendent of police initiated departmental proceedings against the investigating officer on October 21.The court appreciated the candour and honesty of the circle officer in disclosing the facts through the inquiry report. It also noted the subsequent action taken by the superintendent of police.The bench said the compensation paid to Rajbhar could be recovered from those found responsible for his illegal detention after an inquiry.
It added that the state could make such a recovery if it wished.Allowing the petition, the High Court ordered Rajbhar's immediate release if he was not wanted in another case, while leaving him free to seek further damages from the police department.- Ends