No accused can be summoned orally to police station: Allahabad High Court

Prayagraj: The Allahabad High Court at Lucknow has directed the Uttar Pradesh government that no person, including an accused, can be summoned to a police station orally by subordinate police officials without the consent/ approval of the station in-charge.

The bench comprising Justice Arvind Kumar Mishra and Justice Manish Mathur on Wednesday directed that in case 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 is to be followed, which contemplates serving a written notice upon such a person, but only after a case has been registered.

The bench emphasised that a person's life, liberty, and dignity cannot be jeopardised based solely on the verbal orders of police officers.

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

The petition was treated as Habeas Corpus and was heard on April 8 when the government counsel informed the Court that no such occurrence had taken place at the police station.

On April 13, petitioners Savitri and Ram Vilas and their daughter appeared before the Court and said that some police personnel summoned them to the police station, and when they arrived, they were detained and threatened by police personnel.

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

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