‘How was dawn to break at 10.45 am?’: In cow slaughter case, Allahabad HC asks Bahraich SP to explain ‘inconsistencies’ in FIR

LUCKNOW: The Allahabad high court has directed the Superintendent of Police of Bahraich district to explain what it described as “inconsistencies” in a First Information Report (FIR) filed in a cow slaughter case, observing that courts may now need to intervene to curb “fanciful and highly exaggerated” complaints. A bench of Justices Abdul Moin and PK Srivastava at the Lucknow bench granted protection from arrest to the petitioner, Akbar Ali. The court said that if the Superintendent of Police failed to file a personal affidavit clarifying the issues raised, he would be required to appear in person with the complete case records. The matter has been listed for hearing on 16 March. The order was passed on 16 February on a writ petition filed by Mr Ali, who challenged the FIR registered on 22 January at Jarwal Road police station in Bahraich. According to the FIR, police acting on a tip-off arrested three people on allegations of cow slaughter and attempt to murder. While three suspects were detained at the scene, a fourth person allegedly fled. Ali’s name was later added to the case based on statements made by the arrested individuals. While examining the FIR, the bench noted that it recorded the incident as having taken place at 10:45am. It further stated that when the police arrived, the accused were heard saying they should flee as “it was going to be dawn”. The court questioned how “dawn was to break at 10.45 am”. The bench also referred to what it described as routine remarks in the FIR, saying these appeared to resemble lines from a film script. Expressing concern over the drafting of the complaint, the judges observed: “Time and again this court has pointed out that the language being used in the FIRs does not reflect the ground position, rather appears to be hearsay, scripted and appears to be heavily borrowed from the movie scripts and is fanciful and highly exaggerated one.” The bench added: “Time has come for the courts to now step in and put a check to the fanciful and highly exaggerated FIRs which are being lodged by the authorities, of which the case in hand is a blatant example.”