Court caseAIR 1986 SC 494

Bhim Singh, a member of the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly, was arrested on the night of 9-10 September 1985 while on his way to Srinagar to attend the Assembly session, on a charge of making an inflammatory speech. He was kept in police custody, moved from place to place and not produced before a magistrate within twenty-four hours; remand orders were obtained from magistrates without producing him. He was thus prevented from attending the session and voting. His wife filed a habeas corpus petition in the Supreme Court; by the time it was heard he had been released on bail.

Chinnappa Reddy J. found that the police had acted "mischievously" and that the magistrates had shown "a lack of concern" for the liberty of the subject, having granted remand without the accused being produced. Though release made habeas corpus unnecessary, the Court held that "the mischief or malice and the invasion may not be washed away or wished away by his being set free" and that in appropriate cases it has the jurisdiction to compensate the victim by awarding suitable monetary compensation. Relying on Rudul Sah and Sebastian Hongray, it ordered the State to pay Rs 50,000 as exemplary costs within two months.