In a couple of habeas corpus petitions filed before the Madhya Pradesh High Court regarding the illegal detention of three persons by the police at the Cyber Crime police station in Bhopal, a Division Bench of Chief Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva and Justice Vinay Saraf directed statements of the three persons to be taken with immediate effect and directed the filing of detailed affidavits within a week.
It was asserted that the three persons were detained on 20-04-2026 and that they had not been produced before the Magistrate for two days. It was submitted that they were handed over to the Rajasthan Police without following any procedure of law.
In a previous order, the Court allowed the applications since the respondents agreed that even though they were not in custody, three persons were present in the police station who were permitted to be taken away by the Rajasthan Police without any judicial order or transit remand. The Commissioner of Police, Bhopal, was directed to submit a report regarding the petitioners’ allegations, and the Madhya Pradesh Police was directed to produce the relevant CCTV footage for perusal of the Court.
The Rajasthan Police submitted that the persons had not been detained as they were arrested on 22-04-2026 and produced before the Magistrate concerned on the same day. It was mentioned that they were initially remanded to police custody and thereafter to judicial custody. The Court was notified that the persons had been granted bail by the competent court at Jaipur, but were still in detention awaiting fulfilment of the bail conditions.
The persons asserted that the entire version of the Rajasthan Police and the Madhya Pradesh Police was contrary to what had actually transpired.
Hence, the Court directed the Chief Judicial Magistrate to depute an officer to record the statements of the three persons separately regarding what transpired from the time they were contacted by the Madhya Pradesh police until they were produced before the Magistrate. The statements were directed to be recorded on the same day so that the persons could return to Jaipur to fulfil the bail conditions.
The State of Rajasthan submitted that the issue began with an oral communication between the DIG, Crime, Commissionerate, Jaipur, and DCP Crime, Bhopal. The Court directed both officers to file a detailed affidavit regarding the entire series of events within one week.
The matter has now been listed on 12-05-2026.
Appearances:
For Petitioners – Mr. Harjas Singh Chhabra
For Respondents – Mr. B.D. Singh (AAG), Mr. Anshuman Singh
