Bhopal: A security check conducted at Bhopal Airport suddenly turned Engineer Ajay Singh's life upside down. Ordinary dry mango powder was mistaken for drugs, resulting in an innocent man spending 57 days behind bars. Later, when the truth came to light, the Madhya Pradesh High Court—deeming the entire episode an instance of gross negligence—ordered the state government to pay ₹10 lakh in compensation. Ajay Singh, an engineer by profession, had arrived at Bhopal Airport on May 7, 2010, in connection with his work, from where he was scheduled to catch a flight to Delhi. During the security screening process at the airport, his luggage was scanned; at that moment, the dry mango powder contained in his bag was flagged as suspicious by the Explosive Trace Detector machine. The machine indicated that the substance could potentially be heroin or some other banned narcotic. Following this, airport security agencies and the police initiated immediate action. Without awaiting final scientific confirmation, Ajay Singh was taken into custody; a case was registered against him under the NDPS Act, and he was sent to jail. Ajay Singh repeatedly asserted that his bag contained nothing but dried mango powder (Amchur) and spices, but his claims were disregarded. The investigative agencies relied solely on the report generated by the screening machine. The most critical issue in the case emerged when it came time to conduct a forensic examination of the seized substance. At that time, Madhya Pradesh lacked the modern forensic facilities necessary to immediately determine whether the substance was, in fact, a narcotic. Consequently, the sample was sent to a laboratory in Hyderabad for analysis—a process that took a full 57 days to yield a forensic report. Throughout this entire period, Ajay Singh remained incarcerated. Finally, when the report arrived, it conclusively established that the substance was not a narcotic, but merely ordinary dried mango powder. Subsequently, on July 2, 2010, Ajay Singh was released from jail; however, by then, his social reputation, mental well-being, and personal life had already suffered profound damage. An innocent engineer had been forced to endure imprisonment, treated as if he were a criminal. Thereafter, Ajay Singh approached the courts in his quest for justice. The matter eventually reached the Madhya Pradesh High Court. During the court proceedings, it came to light that the entire episode was marred by serious negligence at multiple levels. The first error lay in placing blind faith in the airport's screening machinery; the second error involved effecting an arrest under stringent legal provisions without the backing of a definitive forensic report. The third—and most significant—shortcoming was the inadequacy of the state's forensic infrastructure, which lacked the necessary facilities to conduct timely testing. The Madhya Pradesh High Court deemed this entire affair a grave violation of an individual's liberty and human rights. Offering stern observations regarding the state's forensic system, the Court asserted that an innocent citizen cannot be made to bear the penalty for delays in investigation or for technical deficiencies within the system. In its verdict delivered in May 2026, the High Court directed that Ajay Singh be awarded compensation amounting to ₹10 lakh. The court acknowledged that, due to administrative negligence and a flawed investigative system, Ajay Singh was compelled to spend 57 days in jail without justification. To this day, this case stands as a stark example of how technical errors, a weak forensic system, and hasty actions can ruin the life of an ordinary individual.