'Police Officials Must Appear In Prescribed Uniform Before Courts': Allahabad HC Pulls Up Cop For Casual Attire

A bench Justice Sanjay Kumar Singh, who was hearing the matter, stressed that police personnel must maintain the decorum of court proceedings by appearing in proper uniform when attending in their official capacity.

“Police officers are expected to wear prescribed uniform while appearing before Courts. The appearance of any police officer wearing casual civil clothes in Court proceeding amounts to violation of decorum of the Court and undermining the Court proceedings,” the Court remarked.

Essentially, the Court was dealing with a bail plea filed by one Shakeel Ahmad, also a police officer, who had been accused of demanding a bribe of ₹5,000 from the complainant to avoid implicating him in a criminal case (Crime No. 8 of 2025).

Due to the said bribery allegation, an FIR was lodged against him under the Prevention of Corruption Act, and he was arrested.

During the bail hearing, Ahmad's counsel submitted that his client was not the investigating officer in the Crime No. 8 of 2025, the case in relation to which the bribe was allegedly demanded.

To verify the claim, the Court called upon Inspector Krishna Mohan Rai, the investigating officer of the bribery case, along with the case diary of Crime No. 8.

Upon perusing the diary, the Court noted that while the applicant's name was initially mentioned as the investigating officer of the Crime, there was no substantive record showing that Ahmad had actually conducted any part of that investigation.

In fact, Inspector Rai also admitted that the record of that case was never handed over to Ahmad for investigation. This admission prompted the Court to observe that Rai had failed to conduct a fair and impartial investigation in the case. Accordingly, the Court granted bail to the applicant.

However, before parting with the matter, the Court took strong exception to the conduct of Inspector Rai, who appeared in court wearing a coloured shirt and trousers instead of his official prescribed uniform, even though he was present before the Court in his official capacity.

The Court also deprecated his conduct of arguing inappropriately with the AGA when he interrupted him for not coming to the Court in proper uniform.

Warning him to be careful in the future, the Court directed the Director General of Police, Uttar Pradesh, to issue necessary instructions and guidelines to ensure that police officers appearing in court for judicial functions wear their prescribed uniforms.

The DGP has been directed to comply with this order and report back within six weeks through the Registrar General of the High Court.