Understanding Of Law At An All-Time Low: Allahabad High Court Rejects PIL Seeking Recall Of Murder Convict's Bail, Imposes ₹50K Cost
Sparsh Upadhyay
1 July 2026 1:56 PM IST
The Allahabad High Court last week dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) plea that sought a direction to the police and the State of UP to recall a Division Bench's orders granting bail and suspending the sentence of a murder convict.
Strangely, the PIL plea also prayed that the appeal pending before the High Court be sent to the MP/MLA Court, which the Court noted is essentially a Court of Sessions and lies lower than the High Court in the judicial hierarchy.
Terming the prayers made in the petition as 'outrageous' and 'shocking', a Bench of Justice JJ Munir and Justice Arun Kumar dismissed the plea and imposed a cost of ₹50,000 on the petitioner.
Briefly put, the PIL plea petitioner (Lal Chand Yadav) moved the HC concerning a criminal appeal (of 2022) pending against a judgment and order of conviction recorded by the Sessions Court in a murder case.
In August last year, the 5th respondent was granted bail by a Division Bench of the High Court. By a subsequent order, the same bench modified the earlier order, which had granted bail simpliciter, and suspended the sentence awarded in the case.
Seeking a mandamus, Petitioner-Yadav prayed the Court to direct the respondent-authorities [State of UP, SSP and SHO concerned] to recall the bail order and the order suspending the sentence. Additionally, he prayed that the criminal appeal be transferred from the High Court to an MP/MLA Court for adjudication.
At the outset, the bench refused to look into the merits of the case due to the nature of the jurisdiction invoked and the relief sought.
Furthermore, the Bench strongly criticized the petitioner and his counsel for filing such a plea seeking prayers, which it opined, should "never have been put in pen and ink".
The division bench said the PIL plea had been drafted and filed through counsel, about whom the presumption is that "the raw facts brought to his notice would be honed into a legally presentable case before the Court".
Instead, the Bench observed that the counsel succumbed to the petitioner's demand and pressed for such prayers, which were outrageous.
"…it does not require a profound training in the law, if there is general awareness that this kind of a direction is so absurd that the prayer should never have been put in pen and ink. For whatever reason the learned Counsel has not only drafted the petition, but made that prayer. The reasons would be best known to him".
The bench also expressed deep anguish over the declining awareness of basic legal principles among citizens and legal professionals. It remarked thus:
"We live in a society, where knowledge of laws has become scanty with the advent of disciplines of sciences overtaking the awareness and general knowledge of citizens about other matters. Understanding of the law is at an all-time low. There is intense occupation with other disciplines to the extent that things are said and done outside the Court, which are monstrosities to any person trained in the law".
Against this backdrop, the bench thought it fit to dismiss the petition with costs of Rs. 50,000/-, to be recovered from the petitioner, which shall be deposited by him within a period of fifteen days with the learned Registrar General of this Court.
In the event that the costs are not deposited, the bench added, the Registrar General shall take immediate steps to recover the same as arrears of land revenue.
Case title - Lal Chand Yadav vs State of UP and others 2026 LiveLaw (AB) 341
Case Citation: 2026 LiveLaw (AB) 341
