The Allahabad High Court recently directed the District Judge of Ghaziabad to investigate how two contradictory orders were uploaded online in a defamation case [Parul Agarwal vs State of UP and Another].
Justice Saurabh Shyam Shamshery chose not to take immediate action against the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, who had since been transferred to another district, even though it was clear that the magistrate had not been careful and had not initiated an inquiry into the staff responsible.
“The Court is informed that he is a young Magistrate, and considering his long career ahead, I am not passing any adverse order. However, the District Judge concerned is directed to initiate an inquiry into the circumstances under which the court staff uploaded two unsigned draft orders on the website,” Justice Shamshery ruled.
The issue arose after it was revealed that the trial court had issued two different orders on February 13 in the same case. One order dismissed the defamation complaint, while the other summoned the accused to face trial.
The accused’s counsel pointed out that the order dismissing the complaint was unsigned, whereas the order summoning the accused was signed. After this was brought to light, the Court sought an explanation from the Magistrate.
In response, the judicial officer offered an unconditional apology and explained that his court staff had mistakenly uploaded an unsigned draft order without his approval.
Given the unusual circumstances, the Court ruled that both orders should be set aside, as they were contradictory. It further instructed that the unsigned orders should not be considered part of the case proceedings.
The matter was sent back to the trial court for reconsideration, with the direction to issue a fresh order in line with the law after hearing the complainant, preferably within three months.
Advocates Gunjan Jadwani and Rahul Agarwal represented the petitioner, while Advocate Sudhir Mehrotra appeared for the High Court. Advocate Vipul Pandey represented the respondent.
