Supreme Court expresses frustration with the Allahabad High Court

Added: 2026-05-01

[00:00:00]What is wrong with this High Court? That was the Supreme Court and it was talking about the Allahabad High Court. But what happened that led to this kind of frustration from the Supreme Court?

[00:00:08]Today, a bench of Justice J.B. Pardiwala and Justice Vijay Bishnoi canceled the bail granted by the Allahabad High Court to a man charged with dowry death. The court today directed the man to surrender within a week and directed that the trial must wrap up within a year. So, what happened in the case? The case was brought up by the deceased woman's father. The postmortem report on record showed injuries around her neck.

[00:00:28]She had died within 7 years of marriage.

[00:00:30]When the state's counsel tried to argue his case, Justice Pardiwala responded by asking how bail could even be on the table given the nature of these allegations and the fact that the death occurred within 7 years of marriage. He told the counsel plainly, "Stop making flimsy arguments or the bail gets canceled right then and there." The question he kept coming back to was simple. The wife was found dead under suspicious circumstances in her own home. How does the accused explain that?

[00:00:54]The state's counsel then brought up the fact that the accused had already spent 18 months in custody. Justice Pardiwala responded sharply, "This is a case of murder. She has been strangled to death.

[00:01:04]Do you want us to demonstrate?" he said.

[00:01:06]He wasn't letting it go easily. The court also pointed out that under Section 113B of the Indian Evidence Act, that states that when a woman dies within 7 years of marriage under suspicious circumstances, the law presumes it to be a dowry death.

[00:01:18]Something the High Court simply ignored.

[00:01:20]Those of you who have been following news from the Supreme Court must already know that this isn't new. The same bench recently pulled up the Allahabad High Court for refusing bail to an undertrial who had spent 9 years in custody. And before that, Justice Pardiwala had reportedly expressed shock at the Allahabad High Court again for granting bail in another dowry death case without proper reasoning. Visit livelaw.in to access the report on this story and keep following us here to stay updated with everything that is law.