SC pulls up Allahabad, Uttarakhand HCs for staying arrests in murder cases

The court’s remarks came while hearing an appeal against a July 23 order passed by the Uttarakhand high court on a plea for quashing the first information report in the murder of a man that named three people as accused.

The Supreme Court on Monday pulled up the high courts of Allahabad and Uttarakhand for “continuously” issuing stay orders on the arrest of people accused of heinous crimes such as murder.

The Supreme Court noted that the offence in the case was of murder and the high court should have been more circumspect.

“Despite our orders repeatedly holding that no such [stay] order can be passed, the High Courts in Uttar Pradesh (Allahabad) and Uttarakhand are continuously passing such orders,” remarked a bench of justices Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud and MR Shah.

The court’s remarks came while hearing an appeal against a July 23 order passed by the Uttarakhand high court on a plea for quashing the first information report in the murder of a man that named three people as accused. The high court had noted that the prayer for quashing the FIR was “innocuous” and was not pressed for by the accused, but it still allowed them protection from arrest till August 10.

The Supreme Court noted that the offence in the case was of murder and the high court should have been more circumspect. “It is a shocking order passed by the high court,” the apex court remarked while noting that the order allowed the accused to surrender by August 10 and also get a decision on their bail plea on the same day, if filed. “Further, it goes on to say that if bail is refused, the papers should be sent to a sessions judge the same day who will deal with the bail expeditiously.”