The Allahabad High Court has refused to quash a series of FIRs registered in connection with the September 2025 violence in Bareilly and has also vacated an earlier interim order that had stayed the arrest of some of the accused. The court held that the case did not warrant interference at this stage.
A bench of Justices J J Munir and Vinai Kumar Dwivedi dismissed a batch of petitions filed by Ashu and several others on March 9, challenging the FIRs registered after clashes between police and a crowd outside a mosque on September 26, 2025.
The petitioners argued that the FIR under challenge amounted to a second FIR relating to the same incident. They pointed out that an earlier FIR had already been lodged by a sub-inspector in connection with the violence and contended that registering another FIR for the same occurrence was legally impermissible.
However, the High Court rejected this argument, observing that the earlier FIR captured only a limited aspect of the events that unfolded.
The bench said:
“The said FIR, though related to the same incident no doubt, but it does not report the generality of the incident and all that the unlawful assembly did. It reports only one facet of it, where the unlawful assembly throwing brickbats, where the informant was on duty, snatched a policemen’ baton and attempted to tear of his uniform. It is a very small part of the incident, which the impugned (present) FIR reports in wholesome detail.”
The court further held:
“Therefore, on the foot of the FIR, giving rise to Crime No. 1145 of 2025, it cannot be said that the impugned FIR is a second FIR relating to the same incident.”
Dismissing the writ petitions, the bench stated that the circumstances of the case did not justify quashing the FIRs at the request of the petitioners.
“In the totality of circumstances, we do not find this to be a fit case, where we can quash the impugned FIR at the instance of any of the petitioners, who have preferred the present writ petition and the connected writ petitions,” the court observed.
The High Court also vacated its earlier interim order dated November 24, 2025, which had stayed the arrest of some of the accused in the case.
The violence erupted on September 26, 2025, when a large crowd gathered outside a mosque in Bareilly after Friday prayers. The gathering was linked to a protest call by supporters of Maulana Tauqeer Raza.
Authorities had denied permission for the protest and imposed prohibitory orders under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) due to the ongoing Navratri and Urs festivities in the city.
According to the case record, supporters allegedly raised provocative slogans and attacked police personnel by hurling stones and petrol bombs after the police attempted to disperse the gathering.
The unrest quickly spread across several parts of Bareilly, including Khalil Tiraha, Naumahalla Mosque, Kotwali, the SP City Office area, Novelty Chauraha, Azamnagar and Shyamganj. Police were deployed to bring the situation under control.
