How Could You Think A Magistrate Can Decide Anticipatory Bail Plea? Allahabad HC Seeks Explanation From SP Basti

The Allahabad High Court on Thursday took strong exception and sought an explanation from the Superintendent of Police, Basti, Dr Yashveer Singh, for stating in his affidavit that certain anticipatory bail applications were pending before a Magistrate's Court. "If the Superintendent of Police of a district does not know that a Magistrate does not have the power to entertain or decide anticipatory bail application, the lesser said the better about his basic knowledge of the law", a bench of Justice JJ Munir and Justice Tarun Saxena remarked. Our readers may note that, as per Section 482 BNSS, only the High Court or the Court of Session can grant the relief of anticipatory bail/pre-arrest bail to an accused or a person who has reason to believe that he may be arrested on an accusation of having committed a non-bailable offence.The High Court also questioned SP Basti for naming the Deputy Chief Minister of the State in his affidavit, which the Court said he ought not to have done. He has been asked to clarify both the issues in his personal affidavit to be filed on or before April 29. For context, the bench is hearing a criminal writ petition filed by Ratnesh Kumar alias Raju Shukla. On December 11, 2025, the High Court was informed that the IO of the case was suspended by the SP immediately after he prayed for an NBW to secure the appearance of the accused respondents. Earlier this month, the SP concerned was directed to file a personal affidavit explaining the circumstances under which he had suspended the IO who had obtained a non-bailable warrant against the accused and to clarify who was currently investigating the matter. The High Court had also issued a stern warning of criminal contempt to him over his act of suspending the IO.Read more about the previous order of the HC : 'Prima Facie In Contempt': Why Allahabad High Court Slammed Basti SP For Suspending IO Over An NBW Now, when the said affidavit of the SP concerned was perused by the High Court on April 16, the bench expressed surprise at his claim in paragraph 10, stating that several accused persons had filed anticipatory bail applications, which are pending adjudication before the learned Magistrate's Court. The High Court also found that the Police Chief had hardly explained why he 'frowned upon' the IO for securing a non-bailable warrant of arrest against the accused, when the warrant was granted by the learned Magistrate after the application of judicial mind. "We had asked the Superintendent of Police to explain what exception could he have, once the Magistrate had, after considering the matter, issued a warrant of arrest," the bench noted, adding that the SP had not at all explained his stance. Consequently, the High Court directed the Superintendent of Police, Basti, to file a further personal affidavit on or before April 29, explaining both the issues raised by the HC.

How Could You Think A Magistrate Can Decide Anticipatory Bail Plea? Allahabad HC Seeks Explanation From SP Basti

Sparsh Upadhyay

Tags