A Division Bench comprising Justice Ravindra Singh and Justice Anil Kumar Agarwal passed the order on a habeas corpus petition filed by associates of Swami Paripoornanand, who began his fast on December 25 and went missing on January 1.
The court has also directed the IGP, Alok Sharma, to submit a progress report by the next date of hearing on the matter on February 18.
The sadhu had been agitating in support of the demand of his guru and Dwarka Peeth Shankaracharya Swami Swaroopananda that a 'Sankaracharya Chatushpath' be set up at the Kumbh Mela where pontiffs of all the four Peeths established by Adi Sankara could set up their camps.
Initially, the maintainability of the petition had been questioned by the state counsel on the ground that the petitioners had made no allegation of the missing sadhu being kept in illegal confinement.
However, the court had observed that the sadhu had gone missing "despite being under constant watch of a number of policemen deployed to monitor his health condition", which was "a serious matter".
The sadhu, who had on December 30 moved out of the city in protest against the administration's refusal to accept his demand, returned to the congregation on February 1 following a conciliatory gesture by the UP government which sent an SP MLA to meet him at his ashram in Madhya Pradesh along with a personal letter from Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.
