The Allahabad high court has directed the Judicial Training and Research Institute (JTRI), Lucknow, to prepare and disseminate training modules for magistrates to ensure due application of mind in remand proceedings.
The directions followed repeated instances of magistrates routinely authorising police remand without properly scrutinising arrest memos and remand applications. The court also warned that it would take serious note of any such abdication of duty in future and could recommend administrative action against erring Magistrates.
“The Magistrate in this case has treated the remand application by the police as a formality and in a routine manner,” the court observed, adding that proper scrutiny could have prevented the need for the habeas corpus petition.
The court found Pandey arrest memo grossly deficient in material particulars and ordered that he be released forthwith, if not required in any other case. The court held that these deficiencies violated Supreme Court judgments, including Vihaan Kumar vs State of Haryana (2025) and Mihir Rajesh Shah vs State of Maharashtra (2026). The observations came while allowing a habeas corpus petition filed by Arvind Pandey and another, challenging Pandey’s custody in a cyber-fraud case registered in Kushinagar district.
