Patna: The Patna High Court has taken a stern view of the illegal detention of a minor student, imposing a fine of Rs 5 lakh on the Government of Bihar and ordering an inquiry to fix responsibility on officials who allowed the violation of juvenile justice laws.
A division bench comprising Justice Rajiv Ranjan Prasad and Justice Ritesh Kumar also directed the state to pay Rs 15,000 as litigation costs. The court granted the government liberty to recover the compensation amount from the officials found guilty after the inquiry.
The bench was informed that a 15-and-a-half-year-old student had been sent to jail instead of a juvenile home, despite being legally entitled to protection under juvenile justice provisions. The court noted that the minor’s name did not even appear in the charge sheet filed by the police. Yet, he was arrested, produced before a magistrate and remanded to judicial custody.
“The magistrate also failed in his duty to protect the minor from illegal arrest,” the court observed, noting that the child spent nearly two and a half months in jail. The judges said the incident reflected a “serious failure” at multiple levels of the criminal justice system.
The court further observed that the investigating officer, allegedly acting on the instructions of the deputy inspector general (DIG) of the Kosi range, arrested and jailed the student without any concrete evidence, even though the police had already filed a charge sheet and the court had taken cognisance of the case. If further investigation was required, the DIG should have directed the investigating officer to seek appropriate permission from the court, the bench said.
Directing accountability, the high court ordered that an investigation be completed within six months to identify officials responsible for the illegal detention and to initiate action against them. Copies of the order were directed to be sent to the principal district judge of Madhepura, the Juvenile Justice Board, Madhepura, and the Director General of Police, Bihar.
The case relates to FIR number 128/25 registered at Puraini Police Station, involving an alleged assault stemming from a personal dispute. The court said the circumstances under which a minor was deprived of his liberty called for “serious introspection and corrective measures” to prevent such violations in future.
