Jharkhand High Court Slams Chatra Police for Illegal Detention of Minor Student

Ranchi: The Jharkhand high court on Friday pulled up the Chatra police for allegedly detaining a 19-year-old student illegally at the Lawalong police station in Chatra district.

A division bench of Justice Sujit Narayan Prasad and Justice Arun Kumar Rai was hearing a petition of habeas corpus filed by the victim’s mother, Akhtari Khatun.

The court was informed that the victim, who was a matriculation student, was illegally kept in the lock-up at the police station.The court was informed that the victim was picked up by the police during an investigation by the Tandwa police station in a case bearing number 26/2026.

The court was also informed that two other children were also picked by the police for interrogation on January 27 and 30.The children were then kept in the lock-up for 10 days without any due procedure, the court was informed. The police had illegally detained the children without informing their parents and the court, the petitioner mentioned in the petition.After having heard the arguments at length, the court ordered the Chatra DSP and officer-in-charge of the Lawalong and Tandwa police stations to appear in person on the next date of hearing.

The case will be heard on Feb 13.In the course of the hearing on Friday, the officer-in-charge of the Lawalong and Tandwa police stations was present in the courtroom. The court then confiscated their mobile phones and made a call to the Chatra SP, questioning whether proper formalities were followed before interrogating children at the police station. The high court also questioned the Chatra SP on the details mentioned in the case diary of the Tandawa police station case number 26/2026, and whether the detention of the children in the Lawalong police station was mentioned in the case diary or not.