A sweetmeat trader fighting a divorce case was arrested and had to spend a night in a police lock-up, thanks to the poor grasp of English of cops, who mistook the word ‘warrant’ written on top of a court order for an arrest warrant. It was actually a directive to assess the trader’s property details as he had failed to pay maintenance to his wife.

Neeraj Kumar from Jehanabad district was arrested on November 25 and produced before a family court in Patna the next day.

“The court realised that the police had goofed up and immediately ordered my release,” Neeraj told TOI over phone on Sunday.