The Allahabad High Court has sought an explanation from the Uttar Pradesh government for police's failure to write 'Honorable' or 'Mr' before the name of a Union minister in a First Information Report (FIR) registered by it [Harshit Sharma And 2 Others v State of UP and 2 Others]
A Division Bench of Justice JJ Munir and Justice Tarun Saxena asked the State Home Secretary to explain the case of missing honorific.
It said that the police was required to add the title even if the complainant had failed to mention it.
"The Additional Chief Secretary, (Home), Government of UP, Lucknow will explain on his affidavit why in the FIR the Hon'ble Union Minister, whose name figures, has not been described with the usual honorific of Hon'ble, and at one point, referred to just by his name without even appending a 'Mr.' Even if in the written report, the Hon'ble Minister was inappropriately described by the first informant, while writing the check FIR, it was the duty of the Police to have abided by the protocol by inserting the honorific, may be in brackets," the Court said.
The Court was dealing with a plea seeking quashing of the FIR alleging criminal intimidation and criminal breach of trust.
It is alleged that the accused had taken ₹80 lakh from the complainant on the pretext of getting him a job. They later failed to return the amount and even threatened to kill him, as per the police compliant.
The Union Minister is not an accused in the case but his name finds mention in the FIR.
The Court will hear the quashing plea on April 6. On March 30, it asked a government counsel to seek certain instructions regarding the allegations against accused.
Interestingly, in another case, the High Court had recently questioned the UP Police for calling a trial court "the court below".
In an affidavit filed in response to a court order, Superintendent of Police of Kushinagar had written the following:
"Upon which learned court below took the cognizance of the offence on 03.01.2026."
Justice Harvir Singh has now directed the police officer to explain his choice of words.
That matter will be taken up for consideration on April 10.
[Read Orders]