The Allahabad High Court has directed the Uttar Pradesh government to pay `2 lakh in compensation to Mansoor Ahmad, a resident of Prayagraj, after ruling that police illegally detained him for eight days.
The order came during the hearing of a habeas corpus petition filed by Mansoor Ahmad and his wife. According to the petition, police personnel from Khiri Police Station took Mansoor Ahmad into custody from his home on the night of March 19, 2026, without informing him or his family of any reason for the detention.
Mansoor Ahmad stated that police kept him in custody for eight days and subjected him to physical assault before sending him to jail. The High Court bench of Justice Siddharth and Justice Vinay Kumar Dwivedi examined the case and found the detention unlawful.
The court ordered compensation at the rate of `25,000 per day for each day of illegal detention, amounting to `2 lakh. The judges stressed that personal liberty remains a fundamental right and stated that authorities must follow due legal process before depriving any citizen of freedom.
The court reviewed police records and found procedural shortcomings in the action taken against Ahmad. The bench also noted that records didn’t show any refusal on his part to furnish a personal bond. It directed the state government to release the compensation within six weeks and ordered the Prayagraj Police Commissioner to submit a compliance report by Sept. 14.