Allahabad HC pulls up CJM over false FIR

The Allahabad High Court came down heavily against Chief Judicial Magistrate Bhagwan Das Gupta at Banda for misusing his position to file a false criminal case against officials of the State Electricity Department.

The Bar and Bench reports that JusticesRahul Chaturvedi and Azhar Hussain Idrisi recently determined that a criminal complaint filed by Gupta was a falsehood which levelled wild allegations of fraud, cheating, fabrication and extortion.

The Court observed that the case was filed solely to teach the government servants a "bitter lesson".

It remarked that Gupta had virtually auctioned his chair, honour and reputation when he went out of his way to exert threats on the government officers to compel them to serve his own personal and financial interests.

"A judicial officer ... just to harass the petitioners who in discharging of their official duties were doing a government job entrusted to them, is proceeding to initiate a criminal case, so that the petitioners may kneel down before him and start dancing on his tune," the Court said.

The Court issued directions to ensure that there is no misuse of power if judicial officers wish to file criminal cases in their personal capacity. The Court ordered that in future, if any judicial officer wishes to become the complainant in his personal capacity in a first information report (FIR), s/he must first inform the concerned District Judge.