The Supreme Court has expressed displeasure over the fact that several orders remanding accused to custody in violation of the top court's orders have been coming from Uttar Pradesh.
In a 2022 ruling (Satender Kumar Antil vs Central Bureau Of Investigation) the apex court had laid down guidelines to avoid unnecessary arrest and custody, and to liberalise the grant of bail.
However, a bench of Justices SK Kaul, Ahsanuddin Amanullah and Aravind Kumar were displeased to note that even though 10 months had passed since, several magistrates continue to pass custody orders violating the judgment.
This, the bench said, would lead to two significant consequences:
a) sending people to custody when not required to be sent
b) adding to the bulk of existing cases
Adding that courts in Uttar Pradesh especially in Hathras, Ghaziabad and Lucknow have acted most in violation of the guidelines, the judges said:
"We call upon the counsel for the High Court of Allahabad to bring this to the notice of the Hon’ble the Acting Chief Justice so that necessary directions are issued to ensure that such episodes don’t occur, including some of the suggestions made by us above."
Meanwhile, the court also said that it was the duty of the High Courts to ensure that lower courts in its jurisdiction complied with its orders:
"...in our view it is the duty of the High Courts that it ensures that the subordinate judiciary under their supervision follows the law of the land. If such orders are being passed by some Magistrates it may even require some judicial work to be withdrawn and the magistrate to be sent to judicial academies for upgradation of their skills.”
(With inputs from LiveLaw)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)