SC frowns at Raj court order that barred cops from arresting during Covid wave

Such directions amount to “putting fetters on the investigating agency”, the Supreme Court said on Rajasthan high court order prohibiting the police from arresting persons for minor offences

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday faulted the Rajasthan high court’s single judge’s order in May this year that directed the police not to arrest persons charged with offences punishable with less than three years imprisonment, ruling that such directions amounted to “putting fetters on the investigating agency” and faced the risk of violating constitutional rights of citizens.

The Rajasthan high court had earlier also approached the Supreme Court against the order delivered by a judge on the bench. (REUTERS)

The top court had earlier on May 25 stayed the controversial order by a single bench of the high court. On Wednesday, the Supreme Court went on to decide the question of whether the high court was right in passing such an order. It did not set aside the high court order but made it clear where it stood.

Interestingly, the Rajasthan high court had approached the top court challenging the order passed by the single judge bench of justice Pankaj Bhandari on May 17. The high court even challenged the March 31, 2020 order by the same judge, in which, he directed the high court registry not to list bails, appeals, applications for suspension of sentence in appeals and revisions in the category of “extreme urgent matters”.

Dealing with the two appeals, a bench of justices L Nageswar Rao and Aniruddha Bose said, “The directions of the high court cannot be sustained as it amounts to putting fetters on the powers of investigating agency” and this has the potential of “violating constitutional rights of individuals”.

In the May 17 order, justice Pankaj Bhandari directed the Rajasthan Director General of Police (DGP) to issue instructions to all officers not to make arrests for offences punishable up to three years. The judge was of the view that its order was in the larger public interest as the police were already involved in enforcing strict lockdown across the state.

The order also directed the high court registry not to list anticipatory bail applications where maximum punishment was up to three years and the offence could be tried by First Class Magistrate. This part of the order was made operational till the reopening of the high court after summer vacation.