PRAYAGRAJ, June 9 -- While imposing a cost of Rs.25,000 in a case involving illegal detention, the Allahabad high court observed that police officials often assume that, out of thousands of rights, only one citizen would come forward to seek enforcement of their rights and hold authorities accountable. The court further noted, they tend to believe that such violations will largely go unnoticed. While making these observations, the high court held that the detention of a person beyond 24 hours is 'illegal' and consequently imposed a cost of Rs.25,000 on the state government. The Allahabad high court said that illegal police detention is a direct violation of the fundamental right to life and liberty, which is safeguarded by Article 21 of the Constitution of India. Allowing a writ petition filed by Matamber Mishra, who had been unlawfully detained in a police lockup for 24 hours, a division bench comprising Justice JJ Munir and Justice Sanjay Kumar observed, "In the totality of circumstances, we hold that the petitioner was illegally deprived of his liberty by a police officer-Surya Prakash Dubey, in the colour of exercise of authority of the state, and for the aforesaid act, the petitioner must be given monetary recompense". "We think that ends of justice would be met, if the State is ordered to pay the petitioner for his illegal detention in police custody from November 26, 2022 to November 27, 2022, a total sum of Rs.25,000," the court added. The court in its judgment dated May 29 observed, "Declaration of the law by the court and the laying down of good policies by the government, more often than not, has little effect upon the sundry officers who have to implement the policy of the government or the laws laid down by this court." "They are persistent by old practices and seem to have faith more in the statistics that only a handful of citizens will challenge violations and seek accountability. It is for this reason that in cases where a citizen gets up to enforce his right and comes forward to this court, it becomes our duty to enforce what is already a declared right of his under the Constitution, the laws, the state government policy and our interpretation thereof.", added the bench. During the proceedings, the police officials failed to deny the allegation of illegal detention in their reply to the petition. Taking note of this, the court allowed the writ petition and awarded costs in favour of the petitioner....