Allahabad High Court slams U.P. Police over routine violations of fundamental rights

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The Allahabad High Court has strongly criticised the Uttar Pradesh Police over what it described as a routine infringement of citizens’ fundamental rights. It also ordered the release of the petitioner, observing that the police appear to have little regard for constitutional freedoms.

“The situation that exists in the State of Uttar Pradesh relating to the civil liberty is shameful, to say the least. The police appear to have little regard for the fundamental rights and civil liberties of citizens, and the infringement of these rights seems to have become a matter of routine for the U.P. Police,” a Division Bench of Justices Atul Sreedharan and Achal Sachdev said in its order of November 3, 2026.

The case concerned a man whose family alleged that he was forcibly picked up by police personnel in plain clothes from outside Nangal police station in Bijnor district on September 5. His formal arrest was shown only on September 7.

The State informed the Court that CCTV footage was unavailable because a thunderstorm had caused water to enter the system through a LAN cable, resulting in its failure.

Rejecting this explanation, the Bench observed that a CCTV malfunction excuse would not be available to the police in cases of alleged unlawful detention. It said such a claim was sufficient for the Court to presume that the person had been unlawfully detained and that footage was deliberately withheld to obscure the truth.

Taking serious note of the station house officer’s failure to produce the footage, the Court directed that its displeasure be entered in her service record and asked the State to consider her continuation in the present posting.

The State was also directed to pay ₹20,000 as litigation costs within seven days.

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