'Might as Well Disband UP Police': Supreme Court Comes Down Heavily on Molestation Probe

'FIR was registered against unknown persons? Why did you write unknown if the person was caught at the spot?'

The Wire Staff

'FIR was registered against unknown persons? Why did you write unknown if the person was caught at the spot?'

might as well disband up police supreme court comes down heavily on molestation probe

Representative image of UP Police personnel conducting vehicle checks and maintain barricades on the Delhi-Meerut Expressway near the UP Gate at the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border. Photo: PTI.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on September 30 slammed Uttar Pradesh Police over a molestation case in Bulandshahr, observing that it might as well hand over all investigations in the state to the Central Bureau of Investigation.

Bar and Bench reported that a bench comprising Justices Sanjay Kumar and Sanjeev Sachdeva was hearing a petition filed by a woman who appeared in person before the court. She told the bench that after a motorcycle rider molested her, she physically apprehended the suspect and handed him over to the local police at the scene. Despite this, the police registered a FIR against an "unknown" motorcycle rider. The accused column was left blank.

The bench said, according to Bar and Bench, "In everything you have an agenda. How will people trust you if this is how you proceed with matters? It is better if we ask the CBI to step in all UP Police investigations. We might as well disband the UP Police. This nonsense has to stop at some point."

According to India Today, the petitioner also alleged that when the Allahabad High Court sought a status report, the police altered their version and inserted the rider's name, 'Tushar,' into the chargesheet, only to subsequently grant him a clean chit. The petitioner further claimed that the motorcycle had no number plate when it was seized, and was also mysteriously assigned a registration number during the probe.

The petitioner submitted that the police’s preliminary report was biased and that the accused later received a clean chit. Questioning the police counsel directly, the bench asked: "You catch the accused at the spot but you don't want to name him in the FIR. Perhaps if the equation works out you can substitute the name, bring in one of your own names. Is that how it works there?"

The court also called the reply affidavit filed by the UP Police “completely uninspiring”. The court directed the police officer to appear at the next hearing and explain why the FIR named an unknown motorcycle rider, despite the rider being apprehended at the scene.

"FIR was registered against unknown persons? Why did you write unknown if the person was caught at the spot? Why did you register FIR against an unknown motorcycle rider if he was caught on the spot? How will people trust the police?" the bench said.

The court also questioned why the rider’s name, Tushar, was omitted initially and added later in the police affidavit and also directed it to file a fresh affidavit.

This article went live on October first, two thousand twenty six, at eleven minutes past one in the afternoon.

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