The Supreme Court has ordered the seizure of the steno book of a Punjab and Haryana High Court judge’s secretary to determine when an anticipatory bail rejection order was actually typed and corrected, after noting an unusual delay in uploading it on the High Court website.
A bench of Justices J K Maheshwari and Vijay Bishnoi observed that although the order was dated July 31, 2025, it had not been uploaded until August 20. While hearing the matter on August 20, the Court had already sought a report from the High Court’s registrar general on the delay.
The report revealed that the registrar general had sought an explanation from the judge’s secretary on August 22, to which the secretary responded the same day, stating that the judge was undergoing medical treatment and surgery between August 1 and August 20. The Supreme Court noted, however, that the secretary did not specify the exact date the order was uploaded and that the uploading occurred only on the day the explanation was submitted.
The bench remarked that it appeared the order was not actually passed on July 31 but after the Supreme Court’s intervention. Directing a “discreet inquiry,” it ordered that the steno book be seized and that the National Informatics Centre (NIC) provide a report on the dates of typing and uploading. The findings are to be submitted on affidavit.
The directions were issued while hearing a petition challenging the High Court’s rejection of anticipatory bail to a man in an FIR lodged in Faridabad. Issuing notice to the State of Haryana, the bench posted the matter for hearing after four weeks and, in the meantime, ordered that no coercive action be taken against the petitioner, subject to his cooperation with the investigation.
