Prayagraj : The Allahabad high court has rejected a plea seeking registration of an FIR against Jagadguru Rambhadracharya over his alleged remarks concerning the ‘Upadhyay’ community and revered religious personalities, including the Shankaracharyas, after the petitioner approached the HC directly without first filing a plea before the magistrate concerned.
The division bench comprising Justice Chandra Dhari Singh and Justice Tarun Saxena observed that a person aggrieved by the non-registration of an FIR must ordinarily first exhaust the statutory remedies available under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) before invoking the high court’s extraordinary jurisdiction under Article 226. He apprised the court that he had submitted a complaint to the Varanasi police commissioner on Oct 8, 2025, seeking registration of an FIR against Rambhadracharya under appropriate penal provisions. The state, on the other hand, opposed the petition, contending that the petitioner had not approached the police station concerned and had directly moved the HC without first availing the remedy under Section 175(3) of the BNSS before the judicial magistrate.
In its order dated Sept 1, the court observed, “If a person has a grievance that his FIR has not been registered by the police, or that having been registered, a proper investigation is not being done, then the remedy of the aggrieved person is not to approach the HC under Article 226 of the Constitution, but to approach the magistrate concerned under Section 156(3) CrPC. (Section 175(3) BNSS).” However, no FIR had been registered till date.