Allahabad: The Allahabad High Court in Lucknow has ordered the Uttar Pradesh government to ensure that no one, even an accused, is summoned to a police station orally by subordinate police officers without the consent/approval of the station in-charge.

On Wednesday, a bench comprised of Justice Arvind Kumar Mishra and Justice Manish Mathur directed that if a complaint is made at any police station that necessitates an investigation and the presence of the accused, a suitable course of action as prescribed under provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code, which contemplates serving a written notice upon such a person, but only after a case has been registered, be followed.

The bench emphasised that a person’s life, liberty, and dignity cannot be jeopardised only because of verbal directives from police personnel.

In this case, a High Court letter petition was filed in which a girl (Sarojini) alleged that her parents (Ram Vilas and Savitri) were summoned to the Mahila Thana Police Station in Lucknow and did not return.

The petition was considered as a Habeas Corpus petition and was heard on April 8 when the government counsel notified the Court that no such incident had occurred at the police station.

Petitioners Savitri and Ram Vilas, as well as their daughter, appeared before the Court on April 13 and stated that they were summoned to the police station and held when they arrived and threatened by police personnel.

The Inspector of the concerned police station informed the Court on the same day that the petitioners had visited the police station around 12 noon on April 8 in connection with a dispute over the partition of ancestral property, and that after recording their statements, they were allowed to leave the police station around 3.30 p.m. on the same day.

In light of the facts of the case, the Court emphasised that no provision in either the Indian Constitution or the CrPC allows a police official to summon and detain a person even without the filing of a FIR, let alone orally.