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Termites eat into decades-old murder case records in UP
A termite-damaged murder case file from 1983 in Uttar Pradesh led to an FIR against the former assistant record keeper for negligence.
In a strange incident, a four-decade-old murder case file preserved in the civil court record room in Uttar Pradesh’s Mau district was found to have been badly damaged by termites.
After this lapse came to light during proceedings in the Allahabad high court while it was hearing an appeal challenging the trial court judgment in the case, the court instructed police to lodge an FIR and probe as to who is responsible for keeping the records safe.
Acting on the court’s directions, police registered an FIR against Vijay Pratap Singh, who was the assistant record keeper when the record was sent to the high court in 2018, for his alleged negligence leading to the destruction of judicial records at the city Kotwali police station of Azamgarh on March 10. HT accessed the FIR through the PDF copy available on the UPCOP application of the Uttar Pradesh Police.
According to the FIR, the case pertains to a murder registered in 1983 at Kopaganj police station, which at that time fell under Azamgarh district but is now part of Mau. The case, titled State vs Chandrapal Rai and others, was registered under Sections 147, 148, 323, 302 and 452 of the Indian Penal Code.
After nearly three years of trial, the then second additional district and sessions judge of Azamgarh delivered the judgment in the case on April 10, 1986. Following the verdict, the case records were deposited in the district court archive in May 1986.
One of the accused later challenged the judgment before the Allahabad high court by filing a criminal appeal in 1986. During the pendency of the appeal, the high court sought the original trial records from the district court through an email dated January 12, 2018.
In response, the then assistant record keeper Vijay Pratap Singh forwarded the case file to the high court on May 7, 2018. However, in a communication dated July 12, 2023, the high court informed the district court that most of the documents in the file had been severely damaged by termites.
Taking serious note of the condition of the records, the high court ordered a detailed inquiry in 2023 and later directed on February 27, 2026 that an FIR be registered to examine the role of those responsible for maintaining the court archives, including both serving and retired employees as several employees during this period had remained posted at the record room.
Following the inquiry, the district judge issued an administrative order on March 9, 2026, directing the registration of a criminal case. Acting on the directive, current civil court record keeper Neeraj Kumar Gupta submitted a complaint at the City Kotwali police station in Azamgarh the next day.
Police officials said further investigation is underway to ascertain the extent of negligence and fix responsibility for the damage to the judicial records.
