The counsel for the Uttar Pradesh government told the Supreme Court today that there is no dispute on the High Court's finding that the grounds of arrest were not informed to the detained person. The lawyer told the court that I am not denying that the grounds for arrest were not disclosed. I am only talking about the amount of fine imposed. We had suspended the concerned SHO.
After this, the court stayed the order to give compensation to the detained person.
This case is related to the 'Habeas Corpus' petition filed by Manoj Kumar in Allahabad High Court. He had challenged his arrest in a criminal case registered in Unnao and sought release from custody.
Kumar was arrested on January 27, 2026 in connection with the FIR registered in September 2024. He argued that the arrest was illegal because the police failed to provide him written grounds of arrest, as mandated in recent Supreme Court judgments interpreting Article 22(1) of the Constitution.
Allahabad High Court found that only the case number was written in the arrest memo of Manoj Kumar, no reason for the arrest was given. The court said that due to not giving any reason, the entire arrest and remand became illegal. The court asked the Additional Chief Secretary (Home) of the state government as to why a heavy fine should not be imposed on the government for wrongly keeping Kumar in jail for three months. The court also said that the Additional Chief Secretary did not take the court order seriously, but only gave a formal reply.
The court said, “If such a case of lack of use of mind comes to light on the part of the senior most official of the Home Department, i.e. the Additional Chief Secretary (Home), then we can understand very well how other officials of the state would be working.”
