The Patna High Court has come down heavily on the Bihar Police for unlawfully arresting and jailing a 15-year-old boy, observing that the minor was detained in blatant violation of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015. In a strong ruling delivered on January 9, a division bench of Justice Rajeev Ranjan Prasad and Justice Ritesh Kumar ordered the State of Bihar to pay ₹5 lakh as compensation for the boy’s two-and-a-half-month-long illegal detention.
The court was hearing a habeas corpus petition filed by the family of the minor, who was arrested on October 23, 2025. The boy was wrongly shown as 19 years old by the Investigating Officer (IO) and sent to jail instead of being presented before the Juvenile Justice Board.
“The I.O arrested the petitioner, described his age as 19 years and produced him before the court from where he was sent to jail,” the bench noted.
The bench found that the magistrate had completely failed in their duty to assess the boy’s age at the time of remand. “In complete breach of the provisions of the Juvenile Justice Act, the petitioner was languishing in jail,” the judges remarked.
Citing the student’s school-issued date of birth certificate, the court held that his age was clearly below 18, and yet he had been kept in an adult prison. “Even the learned Magistrate failed to protect the petitioner from his illegal arrest,” the court said.
“The liberty of the petitioner in the present case has been curtailed and his Right to Life and Liberty has been violated by the act of the police officials,” the bench added.
Calling the arrest “unlawful,” the court held that it could not stay silent. “This Court being a Constitutional Court cannot remain a mute spectator,” the bench said.
The State has been directed to pay ₹5 lakh to the minor as compensation for the “physical and mental agony” he suffered during the two-and-a-half-month incarceration. Additionally, ₹15,000 is to be paid towards the litigation cost incurred by the family.
The court also directed the Director General of Police (DGP), Bihar, to conduct a detailed inquiry into the incident and the roles of the investigating officers involved.
Under the Juvenile Justice Act, any person under the age of 18 is entitled to be dealt with by the Juvenile Justice Board. The Act mandates that if a person claims to be a juvenile, a proper age inquiry must be conducted at the earliest stage. The failure to do so, as the court observed, amounted to a serious violation of both statutory and constitutional protections.
