How can a police officer aver that accused will abscond because he is a ‘North Indian?’ questions Madras High Court

The High Court Registry was directed to list the matter next on November 10, 2026 for the DGP to report compliance. | Photo Credit: FILE PHOTO

The Madras High Court has expressed its strong disapproval to an averment made by an Inspector of Police that the accused in a criminal case was likely to abscond because he is a “North Indian.” The court said, such an averment ought not to have appeared in an affidavit sworn by a police officer.

While granting bail to Ankur Kumar Jain of FIIT-JEE in a cheating case booked by Coimbatore police, Justice N. Ramesh wrote: “The averment that the petitioner is likely to abscond because he is ‘a North Indian’ is not appreciated. A person’s place of origin is not a ground for apprehending that he will flee.”

He went on to highlight that the petitioner had lived and worked in Chennai for more than two decades and said that the latter was entitled to bail for the sole reason that the police had miserably failed to furnish the grounds of arrest to him in a language that he can read and understand.