ON FEBRUARY 10, the Allahabad High Court stayed the operation of an order passed by the then Sambhal Chief Judicial Magistrate (‘CJM’) directing the registration of an FIR against Additional Superintendent of Police Anuj Chaudhary and other police officials in connection with the Sambhal violence of November 2024.
A single-judge bench of Justice Samit Gopal passed the interim order while hearing a petition filed by Chaudhary, the former Sambhal Circle Officer and former Sambhal Kotwali in-charge Anuj Tomar. The High Court noted that the complainant, Yameen, father of one of five persons killed in the Sambhal violence, had failed to produce any relevant document or even make a specific pleading to show that he had approached the officer in charge of the concerned police station with information about the commission of a cognisable offence, or that such officer had refused or neglected to register an FIR.
The High Court granted the original complainant fourteen days to file a counter-affidavit. The stay on the impugned order will remain in force until then.
