Supreme Court slams Uttar Pradesh Police for converting civil cases into criminal ones, warns of stern action

Supreme Court slams Uttar Pradesh Police for converting civil cases into criminal ones, calls it 'breakdown of rule of law'

The Supreme Court on Monday strongly criticized the Uttar Pradesh Police for frequent petitions for converting civil cases into criminal cases calling the pleas wrong and showing a "complete breakdown of the rule of law.

According to Live Law, the Chief Justice of India Sanjeev Khanna warned that the Supreme Court will impose costs on the police if similar petitions are filed in the future.

In a case involving financial issue, the Uttar Pradesh police had filed a chargesheet requesting for a civil case to be converted into a criminal one. The person who filed the petition alleged that the police took bribes to turn the civil case into a criminal case.

The apex court stayed the criminal prosecution in the case and asked UP Police Director General of Police (DGP) Prashant Kumar and the investigating officer to file a response in two weeks.

The Chief Justice of India (CJI) expressed strong disapproval, saying, “This is wrong what is happening in UP. Every day civil suits are being converted to criminal cases. It’s absurd, merely not giving money cannot be turned into an offence. I will ask the IO to come to the witness box. Let the IO stand in the witness box and make out the case of crime. We direct it, let him learn his lesson, this is not the way you file chargesheets. It’s strange that it’s happening day in and day out in UP, lawyers have forgotten there is civil jurisdiction also," as reported by Live Law.

“We are passing it over, but now any case that comes up now (in UP) we will impose costs on the Police. Let them (UP Police DGP and IO) file the affidavit. This is complete breakdown of the rule of law," the court added.

The CJI had raised concerns about civil cases being converted into criminal ones earlier in December 2024 as well. He noted that this was happening a lot in some states in December 2024 and highlighted that it puts extra pressure on courts, even though such issues can be handled under civil law.