Excuse Of CCTV Malfunctioning Unavailable To Police In Unlawful Detention Case: Allahabad HC Orders Entry In SHO's Service Record
The Allahabad High Court was considering a petition filed by the daughter alleging that her father was kept under illegal detention.
Justice Atul Sreedharan, Justice Achal Sachdev, Allahabad High Court
While raising concern over the infringement of civil rights of citizens in the State and holding that the prevalent situation relating to civil liberty is shameful, the Allahabad High Court has held that the excuse of a CCTV malfunction is not available to the police in a case of unlawful detention.
The High Court was considering a petition filed by the daughter alleging that her father was kept under illegal detention from September 5, 2026, while his official arrest/formal arrest was made on September 7, 2026.
The Bench comprising Justice Achal Sachdev and Justice Atul Sreedharan stated, “The excuse of a CCTV malfunctioning is not available to the police in a case of unlawful detention. Any averment to that effect by the respondents concerned is sufficient for this Court to hold that the contention of the petitioners that the corpus was unlawfully detained is correct and that CCTV footage is deliberately not being provided to the Court in order to obfuscate the truth maliciously”.
The Court ordered, "... this Court arrives at the presumption that CCTV footage is against the interest of respondent no.3 (SHO) and, therefore, it has been deliberately withheld from this Court, for which this Court records its displeasure which shall be entered into her service records.."
Advocate P. K. Singh represented the Petitioner while Government Advocate represented the Respondent.
Factual Background
The first Petitioner was pursuing Chartered Accountancy. In class 12th, she came into contact with one Shahbaz. Shahbaz was stated to be related to the first petitioner from her father's side and, taking advantage of the said relationship, he allegedly induced the first petitioner to accompany him to the hotel on the pretext of having food. However, it was alleged that the first petitioner was given food mixed with intoxicants and, taking advantage of the same, Shahbaz was stated to have sexually assaulted her and also alleged to have prepared obscene photographs/video of the incident.
It was alleged that on one particular day, Shahbaz, along with 8-10 other persons, came near the house of the petitioners and abused and threatened the family members. After the said incident, the second petitioner submitted an application to the SHO and requested legal action against the persons mentioned in the complaint. The petitioner alleged that, as a counterblast, Shahbaz lodged the first information report for offences under Sections 115(2), 352 and 351 (2) of the BNS against the second petitioner.
It was further alleged that the second petitioner was taken away by police personnel / SOG in civil dress, and the person accompanying the second petitioner attempted to record the incident on his mobile phone, but he was stopped by the said officials. Subsequently, the formal arrest of the second petitioner was made on September 7, 2026.
Reasoning
Observing the prevalent state of affairs, the Bench held that the police cannot make an excuse of CCTV malfunctioning in a case of unlawful detention. The Bench was of the view that raising such a contention would mean that the CCTV footage was deliberately not being provided to the Court in order to obfuscate the truth maliciously.
“As the petitioner’s apprehension leading to his formal arrest is based on unlawful detention from 05.09.2026 to 07.09.2026, the petition succeeds and is allowed”, it held.
The Bench thus ordered the second Petitioner to be set at liberty. Considering that the petitioners had prayed for cost of the petition, the Bench held that an amount of Rs 20,000 should be paid by the State to the petitioners within seven days.
Cause Title: Petitioner ‘X’ and another v. State of U.P. (Neutral Citation: 2026:AHC:228441-DB)