Abstract

Detention by police is the process whereby a state lawfully holds a person by removing their freedom or liberty at that time. The detention period becomes highly sensitive as it curbs the personal liberty of an individual, thus it assumes far grave importance to ensure that it isn't misused on arbitrary terms by the state actors. Police actions and their accountability for the same play an important role here as ‘illegal detention’ is the unsubstantiated imprisonment or unlawful deprivation of liberty of an individual by arresting for an illegitimate cause or suspicion, along with continuous restraint on one’s liberty by detaining such individual in custody. Since it has been held so that Personal liberty is of paramount consideration, this paper aims to take in factors and reasons that have led the judicial system to where it is now. As India tries to present and implement reforms to its poor custodial set up, it is important to take in cognizance of the fact the police in India have deep-rooted issues of acting lawlessly and arbitrarily since almost its inception. This paper will dive deep in discovering and understanding this discourse through the consequent events in the history and try to the face the question – what happens when the organization which is in place to protect us instead runs amok and is not kept duly in check leading to rampant disorder, discrimination and subsequently affecting the functioning of our judicial system rendering it to be biased and ineffective in curbing crimes.

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