The Supreme Court has temporarily stopped the enforcement of a Rs 10 lakh cost imposed on the Uttar Pradesh government and officials by the Allahabad High Court in a habeas corpus case involving the alleged illegal arrest and prolonged detention of a man in Unnao district. Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and Sanjeev Sachdeva issued this interim order while considering a special leave petition filed by the state government and other authorities challenging the High Court’s judgment on a petition by Manoj Kumar. The apex court has directed that the matter be listed after eight weeks and put a hold on the cost mentioned in the High Court’s order.
The Supreme Court’s decision comes in response to an Allahabad High Court ruling that deemed the arrest of Manoj Kumar unlawful and invalidated the subsequent remand order due to the failure of authorities to provide written grounds for the arrest. Citing recent Supreme Court judgments, the High Court emphasized that informing an arrested individual of the arrest grounds is not a mere formality but a crucial constitutional safeguard. The High Court found the arrest memo inadequate as it did not specify the grounds of arrest, leading to the declaration of the arrest as illegal on January 27, 2026.
The High Court’s order included the immediate release of the petitioner, subject to no other pending cases, and imposed a substantial cost of Rs 10 lakh on the state authorities. The court directed the state government to initially bear this cost, with the option to recover it from responsible officials as per the law. The High Court criticized the prolonged detention of the petitioner, attributing it to a severe breach of constitutional safeguards and a blatant disregard for arrest laws by the authorities involved.
