The Supreme Court on Monday stayed an Allahabad High Court order directing the Uttar Pradesh government to pay ₹10 lakh compensation to a man who was illegally detained by the Uttar Pradesh Police for over three months.
A Bench of Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and Sanjeev Sachdeva passed the interim stay order on an appeal filed by the State government challenging the High Court ruling."Issue notice. In the meanwhile, the impugned order in so far as it relates to imposition of cost of ₹10 lakh on the petitioner shall remain stayed till the next date of hearing," the Court said.
The High Court had held that the man’s arrest was illegal because the police failed to furnish written grounds of arrest as mandated by recent Supreme Court judgments.The Uttar Pradesh government's counsel told the Supreme Court today that it was not disputing the High Court's finding that grounds of arrest had not been supplied to the detainee.
“I am not shying away from the fact that grounds of arrest were not supplied. The only point I am canvassing is limited to the extent of the cost which is imposed. The concerned SHO was suspended by us,” the counsel told the Court.The Court proceeded to stay the directive for the payment of compensation to the detainee.
The case stems from a habeas corpus petition filed by one Manoj Kumar before the Allahabad High Court challenging his arrest in a criminal case registered in Unnao and seeking his release from custody. Kumar was arrested on January 27, 2026, in connection with an FIR lodged in September 2024. He argued that the arrest was illegal because the police failed to furnish him with written grounds of arrest as mandated by recent Supreme Court judgments interpreting Article 22(1) of the Constitution.
The High Court proceeded to direct the State's Additional Chief Secretary (Home) to explain why exemplary costs should not be imposed on the State for Kumar’s illegal incarceration, which by then had continued for nearly three months.
Expressing strong displeasure, the High Court remarked that the Additional Chief Secretary appeared not to have even gone through the Court’s earlier order.
Consequently, on April 29, the High Court allowed the habeas corpus petition, declared Kumar’s arrest illegal, set aside the remand order and directed his release.It also imposed costs of ₹10 lakh on the State government, holding that Kumar had been deprived of his liberty for over three months because authorities failed to comply with constitutional safeguards laid down by the Supreme Court.
The State has now challenged the compensation component of the High Court's judgment before the Supreme Court, which has now stayed the payment pending further consideration of the State's appeal.
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