The Jharkhand High Court on Monday pulled up the police over the alleged illegal detention of two students at Lavalong police station in Chatra district and directed Superintendent of Police Sumit Agarwal to explain the circumstances under which they were kept in custody for 10 days without following legal procedure.
A division bench of Justices Sujit Narayan Prasad and Arun Kumar Rai was hearing a habeas corpus petition filed by Akhtari Khantun, the mother of one of the detained students.
According to the petition, the police picked up the two students in the early hours of January 26 on suspicion of their involvement in an extortion racket. However, instead of either releasing them after interrogation or producing them before a magistrate, the police allegedly kept them in the police station for 10 days.
The prolonged detention led to the filing of the habeas corpus plea before the High Court.
During the hearing, the bench interacted with the Chatra SP, who was present in person, and expressed serious concern over the manner in which the students were treated.
The court observed that if the police had interrogated the students and then released them, it would have “left a good message on society.” Emphasising the distinction between suspects and hardened offenders, the bench remarked that a student “is not a hardcore criminal.”
The judges noted that if there had been sufficient material against the students, the police should have registered a case and produced them before a magistrate or sent them to judicial custody in accordance with law.
Holding that keeping them in the police station without following statutory procedure was “beyond the process of law,” the bench underscored the requirement that any detention must be duly recorded and legally justified.
The court examined the case diary produced by the police and found that it did not contain any entry showing that the students had been taken into custody.
The absence of any such record, the bench said, indicated that their detention at the police station was not documented, raising serious questions about the legality of the police action.
The High Court has directed the Chatra SP to explain the circumstances surrounding the detention and posted the matter for further hearing on February 27.
