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In a recent order, the Supreme Court of India questioned the manner in which an Allahabad High Court judge dismissed roughly 45 requests for anticipatory relief, all in the same fashion, for non-prosecution on a single day.
In order to ask the concerned High Court Judge as to why he has been acting in such an odd way, Justices Ajay Rastogi and CT Ravikumar of the Division Bench have demanded a report from the High Court Registrar in this regard.
“We are not supposed to comment at this stage but direct the Registrar of the High Court of Allahabad to submit the report to this Court after obtaining from the concerned Judge (Krishan Pahal,J.) as to what prevailed upon him in passing the orders..” the Supreme Court bench ordered.
Additionally, the bench also stated, “…consistently almost in 45 matters at a given point of time on the same date dismissing them in the same fashion for non-prosecution, that too when one has approached the Court for protecting his liberty which is sacrosanct under Article 21 of the Constitution.”
The Bench was considering a Special Leave Petition that contested the High Court’s judgment that declined the petitioner’s motion for anticipatory release for non-prosecution on September 29, 2022. The High Court Judge’s string of “stereo typed orders,” which denied the petitioner’s motion for non-prosecution on September 29, 2022, were detailed in the Supreme Court by the petitioner’s counsel.
The petitioner’s counsel had previously informed the court of a series of “stereo typical decisions” made by the High Court Judge that similarly dismissed pre-arrest bail applications.
The Bench criticized the High Court Judge’s actions, saying,“This kind of approach in passing orders is not acceptable by this Court at any cost.”
The Bench then went on to issue notice on the case. Before releasing the order, the Court additionally suspended the petitioner’s detention in light of the temporary injunction issued by the High Court on July 2. The petitioner was the subject of a FIR for offences listed in Sections 420, 406, 504, 506, 307, and 323 of the Indian Penal Code, all of which are punishable by fine or imprisonment.
The matter will be heard again on November 25.
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