Colonial policing can’t continue: HC to Punjab DGP on FIRs against 18-20-year-olds
Justice Vashisth asserted the criminal justice system ‘cannot be permitted to regress to such methods’, especially when ‘the liberty and future of young citizens are at stake’
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has directed the Punjab Director-General of Police to examine how serious criminal cases are being registered in the state solely on the basis of unverified “secret information”, without checks, verification or even a raid — particularly against boys aged 18 to 20. The direction came as Justice Sanjay Vashisth drew a sharp parallel with colonial-era policing practices.
The court warned that such practices, once used by the British to arbitrarily implicate citizens, were wholly impermissible in a constitutional democracy governed by the rule of law. “This court is constrained to remind itself of the British era, when the police, acting as an instrument of colonial rule, often implicated persons arbitrarily on the basis of mere allegations or alleged receipt of information, without any meaningful verification. In the present time, such practices would be antithetical to personal liberty, being it wholly impermissible in a sovereign and democratic republic governed by the Constitution and the rule of law”.
Justice Vashisth was hearing a regular bail petition filed by a 19-year-old in an FIR registered on June 29, 2025, at Gate Hakima police station in Amritsar City. The police claimed receiving secret information that five accused, including the petitioner, had formed a gang and were allegedly preparing to commit robbery while armed with deadly weapons. The State counsel opposes the petition on the ground that the petitioner was an antisocial element and a “datar” was recovered from his possession.
Justice Vashisth asserted that the FIR was registered solely on the basis of secret information, even before conducting a raid. The only recovery attributed to the petitioner was a datar, “which, at least at first instance, is an agricultural implement.”
Besides this, the petitioner was a “young boy” without prior involvement in criminal activity with his entire future ahead of him. “The manner in which the investigating agency has proceeded in the present case raises serious concerns,” the court added.
Justice Vashisth asserted the criminal justice system “cannot be permitted to regress to such methods,” especially when “the liberty and future of young citizens are at stake and that too at the hands of state police, who in any case is bound to protect citizen of State, from all kind of atrocities.”
“Therefore, it is necessary to examine as to on what basis the investigating officer registered the FIR without first conducting any raid or doing verification of information by recording satisfaction. It is surprising that merely on the basis of recovery of a datar, the petitioner has been implicated in such serious offences,” the court observed.
Directing the petitioner’s release on interim bail, the court ordered the forwarding of the order to the Punjab DGP to “look into the matter and examine how cases of this nature are being registered in the State of Punjab, particularly involving young boys of the age group of 18-20 years, so that unwarranted criminal prosecution does not result in destruction of their future.”
