The Patna High Court while granting ₹2 lakh compensation to man illegally detained six days beyond bail order has directed the authorities to issue appropriate guidelines.

The Court was considering a Writ Petition seeking directions for release of the Petitioner who was granted bail but wasn't released from jail.

The division bench of Justice Rajeev Ranjan Prasad and Justice Sourendra Pandey held, "Since we have come to know that this practice is going on in other jurisdictions of the Jail Superintendents in the State, the I.G., Prisons and Correctional Services is directed to issue appropriate guidelines to all the Jail Superintendents in the State of Bihar requiring them to strictly abide by the Constitutional Mandate and order of the Court without any exception. Such guideline shall be issued within a period of two weeks from today."

The Petitioner was represented by Advocate Siddharth Harsh while the Respondent was represented by Assistant Counsel to Advocate General P.N. Sharma.

The Court rejected the explanation from the I.G., Prisons and Correctional Services that though he noticed that the Petitioner has been confined in jail even after September 29, 2025 without there being any order of a competent court of law, according to him, this has occasioned due to the intervening Durga Puja Holidays.

It pointed out that even during Durga Puja Holidays, an In-charge Court is always available for this purpose and, in fact, the virtual appearance of the Petitioner was done on October 04, 2025 which was during the Puja Holidays only, therefore, it cannot be allowed to be contended that the illegal detention of the petitioner from September 29, 2025 until his virtual production on October 04, 2025 was due to any reason beyond the control of the Jail Superintendent, Central Jail, Gaya Jee.

"...The I.G., Prisons and Correctional Services has immediately realized this and has admitted that “Yes, there is an illegal detention for at least five days”. He has, however, tried to impress upon this Court that taking note of the facts of this case, he would take all corrective measures which are required to be taken and such step shall be taken very soon to address this issue.....There being an admitted position that it is a case of unauthorized detention of the petitioner from 29.09.2025 until 04.10.2025 and this practice is going on without drawing much attention of the Department, this Court being a Constitutional Court cannot remain a silent spectator.....we have already held that it is a case of illegal detention, we proceed to award compensation to the petitioner", the Court held.

Cause Title: Neeraj Kumar v. The State of Bihar

Appearances:

Petitioner- Advocate Siddharth Harsh, Advocate Jitendra Kumar

Respondent- Assistant Counsel to Advocate General P.N. Sharma

Click here to read/ download Order




Patna High CourtJustice Rajeev Ranjan PrasadJustice Sourendra Pandey

Sheetal Joon