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The Patna High Court has dismissed a PIL seeking suspension of senior Patna police officers and action against police personnel over an alleged lathi-charge on students.

A Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Sudhir Singh and Justice Rajesh Kumar Verma said that a third party cannot ordinarily invoke PIL jurisdiction to seek disciplinary action against individual employees.

The PIL sought the immediate suspension of the SSP, Patna, City SP, the concerned DSP and the SHO of Gandhi Maidan Police Station pending an inquiry. It also sought registration of an FIR against named and unnamed police personnel and a judicial inquiry by a retired High Court judge into the “chain of command” which allegedly authorised the lathi-charge.

Looking at the reliefs sought, the Court held that the petition was principally asking it to direct suspension and disciplinary action against individual police officers. The Bench held such matters fall within the employer-employee relationship and have to be dealt with by the competent disciplinary authority under the applicable service rules. The Court observed:

“The extraordinary jurisdiction of this Court in the form of a Public Interest Litigation cannot ordinarily be invoked by a third person for seeking disciplinary action against an employee or for directing the employer to exercise its disciplinary jurisdiction in a particular manner.”

The other prayers related to the alleged victims, including their injuries, medical treatment and compensation, as well as criminal proceedings arising from the incident. The Court noted that none of the persons allegedly affected had themselves approached it.

It added that while the scope of public interest jurisdiction is wide, a person who is neither an employee concerned nor an alleged victim cannot use it to assume the role of an aggrieved party and ask the Court to supervise disciplinary or criminal action against particular individuals.

The Bench, therefore, declined to entertain the PIL. It, however, clarified that anyone directly aggrieved by the alleged incident or any action taken pursuant to it would be free to approach the appropriate forum in accordance with law.

Case Title: Anand Legal Aid Forum Trust v. State of Bihar and Ors.

Case Number: Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case No. 10250 of 2026

Appearance: Mr. Abhijit Anand, Advocate, for the Petitioner; Mr. S.D. Sanjay, AG, and Mr. Rahul Kumar, AC to AG, for the Respondents.

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