AP High Court: Habeas corpus does not lie once an arrested person is in judicial custody or on bail, and newspaper reports alone cannot prov

Summary

Relatives of five men said they were illegally held by forest officials from 5 February 2026 before being produced before the Special Court for red sanders cases at Tirupati on 10 February, and asked for their release and compensation. A Division Bench of the High Court dismissed the habeas corpus petition: the men were in custody under a magistrate's remand order and were later granted bail.

The question before the court

Is a writ of habeas corpus maintainable when the detenus are in custody under a judicial remand order that has not been challenged?

Can disputed questions about the date and time of arrest be decided in writ jurisdiction on the basis of a newspaper report?

Is compensation payable when there was no proved illegal detention?

The court's decision

The Court held the writ not maintainable: the arrest was recorded on 9 February 2026, the detenus were produced before the Magistrate on 10 February within the statutory period, remand had been granted before the writ was filed but was not disclosed or challenged, and bail was granted while the petition was pending, so there was no illegal detention. It declined to hold a roving inquiry into disputed facts that would need evidence, such as CCTV footage and electronic records, and held that a newspaper report is not evidence without verifiable supporting material. As there was no illegal detention, no compensation arose. The writ petition was dismissed, the interlocutory application was rejected, and there was no order as to costs.

Provisions referred to

Article 226 of the Constitution of India

Articles 14, 19, 21 and 22 of the Constitution of India

Official source: High Court of Andhra Pradesh. The PDF above is a copy from an open dataset of the court's public records.

This summary is prepared for general assistance only. It may contain errors and is not legal advice — rely on the full judgment.

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