Patna High Court orders ₹5 lakh compensation for illegally jailing teen for 2.5 months

The Patna High Court on January 9 ordered the release of a 15-year-old boy found to have been illegally arrested by the Bihar Police and directed the State to pay ₹5 lakhs as compensation for the lapse.

The Bench comprising Justice Rajeev Ranjan Prasad and Justice Ritesh Kumar said that this compensation amount can be recovered from the police officers who are found responsible for making the illegal arrest.

"This amount, we are assessing, keeping in view that a young boy who is a juvenile at this stage has undergone physical and mental agony for two and half months by now. The State Government shall pay this amount to the petitioner within a period of one month from the date of receipt/production of a copy of this order," the Court added.

The Court also directed the State to pay ₹15,000 as litigation costs to the family members of the arrested minor. The Court has further issued directions for the prompt release of the jailed teenager.

The case was tied to a land dispute at a village, where the teenage boy (petitioner) and several others were accused of assaulting a person during a Panchayati meeting.

While one accused was formally charged, the petitioner and others were initially left out of the chargesheet drawn up in the case. The investigation had found insufficient evidence against him.

However, the Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) office later sent a supervision note by which he directed the Investigating Officer (IO) to proceed further with the investigation of the case as if the allegations made against the petitioner and others were true.

This led the IO to conduct a raid and make several arrests in October 2025, including that of the petitioner.

Notably, at the time of his arrest, the petitioner was not formally an accused in the case as he was listed among ten individuals who were not sent to trial for want of evidence.

His arrest was, therefore, challenged before the High Court, where it was also submitted that the petitioner was a minor, being only 15 years and 6 months of age.

The Court found that there was no new evidence to justify the petitioner's arrest and that the IO had not sought any approval from the Superintendent of Police (SP) or permission from the concerned magistrate to take such action after the chargesheet was filed.

The High Court observed that proper legal procedures were ignored in arresting the petitioner, resulting in a clear violation of his fundamental rights.

"This Court is fully satisfied that 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 ... We have come to a conclusion that it is a case of unlawful arrest of the petitioner and in such a circumstance, this Court being a Constitutional Court cannot remain a mute spectator," said the Court.

The Court also observed that the petitioner’s juvenile status was not considered at the time of his arrest and production before the magistrate.

His age, as per the Bihar School Examination Board certificate, was 15 years and 6 months at the time of the incident. The magistrate referred him to the Juvenile Justice Board only after the writ petition was filed in the High Court.

The Court proceeded to direct the Director General of Police, Bihar, to institute an administrative inquiry into the actions of the officials involved to determine which officers were responsible for the lapses noticed in this case.

The State was ordered to recover compensation payable to the petitioner and his family from the errant police officers.

The petitioner was represented by advocates Shashwat Kumar, Aman Alam, and Amarnath Kumar.

The State was represented by Additional Counsel to the Attorney General, PN Sharma.

[Read Order]