The Allahabad high court recently revived a 37-year-old issue involving a former superintendent of police (SP) who allegedly threatened to ‘drag’ a sitting sessions judge to police station during the trial of a murder case.

The bench comprising Justice JJ Munir and Justice Sanjiv Kumar took note of the fact while hearing a criminal appeal filed by one Brindawan and others convicted in 1988 in a murder case. The court said the conduct of the then SP could not be ignored even after decades as it sought a personal affidavit from the director general of police, Uttar Pradesh, on the present status of the former Lalitpur SP and the details of action taken against him.

The court also took note of the remarks recorded by the presiding officer in the decades-old judgment. LN Rai was the then sessions judge, Lalitpur, who delivered the judgment in a murder case registered at Narahat police station, Lalitpur.

The conviction by the sessions judge was challenged before the high court in the present appeal and the court, while going through the remarks made by sessions judge in his judgment, took note of the same and passed the order dated November 27.

“The remarks go to the extent that B.K. Bhola, Superintendent of Police, Lalitpur had the audacity and dare to threaten the learned Trial Judge of dragging him to the police station if he summoned certain records from the Police, certain wireless messages, or compelled the S.P. to appear as a defense witness,” the court observed.

The court noted that while the trial judge had recommended departmental action against the officer at the time, he was “kind in not making a reference to this Court for initiation of criminal contempt proceedings”. The bench said the then SP, Lalitpur, was found by the sessions judge to have “behaved like a goon and threatened the learned Trial Judge”.