PRAYAGRAJ, Sept. 10 -- The Allahabad high court on Wednesday came down heavily on the station house officer (SHO) of a police station in Deoria district and the concerned superintendent of police (SP). The court questioned them regarding the police station's CCTV system failure and the absence of footage in a case concerning the illegal detention of four petitioners for ten days. The bench, comprising justice Atul Sreedharan and justice Divesh Chandra Samant, expressed its disappointment with the police officials' explanations regarding the CCTV cameras, the alleged breakdown of the system, and the missing recordings for the period of the alleged detention from April 13 to April 23, 2026. The court directed the state government to pay Rs.20,000 each to the second, third, and fourth petitioners, and Rs.5,000 to the first petitioner, for their unlawful detention. The court further ordered that the total compensation of Rs.65,000 be recovered from the SHO's salary. The HC was hearing a habeas corpus petition alleging that the four petitioners were unlawfully detained at the Gauri Bazar Police Station in Deoria district between April 13 and April 24, 2026. Earlier, the court had directed the production of CCTV recordings from inside the police station to ascertain the veracity of the averments made in the petition. However, on September 2, the state claimed that the CCTV recording system had a fault in the days leading up to the alleged incident. Pursuant to this submission, the SP and the concerned SHO were summoned to appear personally before the court. On Wednesday, the SHO stated that the CCTV system developed a fault on April 12, 2026. The court questioned the SHO on whether any General Diary (GD) entry had been made regarding the system's repair; the SHO admitted there was no such entry. Meanwhile, the SP stated that he had not been informed that the CCTV system was not functioning. The court also questioned the SP regarding the action taken against the SHO for the lapses, asking whether the officer had been suspended or his service terminated. Justice Sreedharan remarked, "Did you suspend him, terminate him? An SHO of a Thana who cannot make a GD entry must be terminated. He is not fit to be a constable." The court directed the SP to remain personally present at the next hearing to explain what independent action had been taken before August 4....