'Prima Facie In Contempt': Why Allahabad High Court Slammed Basti SP For Suspending IO Over An NBW

A bench of Justice JJ Munir and Justice Tarun Saxena observed that the SP's suspension order is "prima facie in contempt" of the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate-II, Basti. The Magistrate had originally issued the warrant based on the IO's application.

Briefly put, a criminal writ petition was filed by Ratnesh Kumar alias Raju Shukla. On December 11, 2025, the High Court was informed that the IO of the case was suspended by the SP immediately after he prayed for an NBW to secure the appearance of the accused respondents.

The High Court had then directed the SP to file a personal affidavit explaining the circumstances under which he had suspended the IO, and to clarify who was currently investigating the matter.

On April 2, the court found the personal affidavit filed by the SP to be entirely unsatisfactory.

A supplementary affidavit filed on behalf of the petitioner revealed that the IO was suspended, saying that he got a non-bailable warrant without collecting evidence.

The High Court took strong exception to the police chief's reasoning. The bench clarified that a non-bailable warrant is issued by the court after perusing the case diary, not on the mere ipse dixit or unsupported assertion of the IO.

"It is the Court's discretion to issue warrant and not the Superintendent of Police's opinion that matters", the bench noted.

Consequently, the High Court directed the SP to file a further personal affidavit within a week. The officer has been asked to justify his remark that the "IO has obtained a non-bailable warrant without collecting evidence, when the warrant was issued by the Court in its wisdom".

The Court added that in the event a satisfactory explanation about the ground of suspending the IO is not furnished by the SP, the court will consider initiating proceedings of criminal contempt against him.

The matter will now be heard on April 10.