High Court reprimands UP Police for violation of citizens' fundamental rights

The Allahabad High Court has severely criticised the police administration for the continuous violation of the fundamental rights of citizens by the Uttar Pradesh Police. In an order delivered on November 3, 2026, a division bench comprising Justice Atul Sreedharan and Justice Achal Sachdeva described the state of civil liberties in the state as extremely shameful. The court observed that the police administration appears indifferent towards constitutional liberties and it seems that violating the rights of citizens has become a common occurrence for the UP Police. Along with these stern remarks, the court ordered the immediate release of the petitioner.

The entire case pertains to an individual from Bijnor district. The petitioner's family alleged that on September 5, police personnel in plain clothes forcibly picked up the individual from outside the Nangal police station. However, the formal arrest was recorded by the police on September 7, revealing that he had been illegally detained for two days.

When the court sought evidence in this matter, the state government argued that CCTV footage was unavailable. According to the government, water had entered the system through the LAN cable during a heavy rain, causing the CCTV system to fail. However, the High Court bench rejected this excuse. The court clarified that in cases of illegal detention, the police cannot accept the argument of malfunctioning CCTV. The court noted that based on such arguments, the court may believe that the person was indeed illegally detained and the footage was deliberately not made available to hide the truth.

The court took serious note of the failure of the Station House Officer (SHO) of the police station to produce the CCTV footage. The court directed that dissatisfaction be recorded in his service record and asked the state government to reconsider his continuation in the current posting.

Additionally, the court has ordered the state government to pay an amount of ₹20,000 as litigation costs in this case within seven days. According to a report by The Hindu, the court expressed deep displeasure over this working method of the police.