The Supreme Court has issued notice to the Allahabad High Court administration and to a Uttar Pradesh judicial officer on a plea seeking that the officer be relieved of his charge as a special POCSO judge while a rape case against him is pending, LiveLaw and Bar and Bench reported. A bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohana passed the order on Monday, November 2, and posted the matter for further consideration in December.

Source: LiveLaw

The officer, Additional District Judge Ashok Bhartendu, is discharging duties as a judge of a court designated under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act in Uttar Pradesh. The allegations against him are untested: the Supreme Court expressed no view on the merits of the case, and he is entitled to the presumption of innocence.

Source: Bar and Bench

The petition was filed by the complainant in the rape case, who is identified only as 'X' in the court records. An FIR was registered against the officer on December 8, 2022, at the Mayur Vihar Phase-I police station in Delhi under Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code, alleging sexual assault on a false pretext of marriage, according to the reports. Delhi Police filed a chargesheet in May 2025, and a Delhi court subsequently took cognisance of the offences.

Appearing for the petitioner, advocate Rakesh Kumar Singh argued that the officer need not necessarily be suspended but should at least be relieved of the POCSO charge, which he described as a highly sensitive posting, and of judicial duties while the case is pending. He also told the court that there had been no visible progress on a vigilance complaint lodged against the officer.

The bench said it would examine the progress of the vigilance complaint and would direct the High Court to take the disciplinary proceedings to their logical conclusion, Bar and Bench reported. However, the court said it would not directly strip the officer of his post and that the decision on his judicial charge would be left to the Allahabad High Court administration.

The complainant had earlier approached the Allahabad High Court with a writ petition seeking a writ of quo warranto against the officer continuing in the POCSO post. The High Court dismissed that petition, observing that its administration knew what it was doing in allowing the officer to continue, that no allegation regarding his discharge of judicial duties had been shown, and that the law would take its own course on the FIR. The Supreme Court petition, X v. The High Court of Judicature at Allahabad, SLP (C) No. 37096 of 2026, challenges that dismissal.

In the underlying criminal case, the Delhi High Court had granted the officer interim protection from arrest in March 2023, while clarifying that there was no stay on the trial proceedings, and the trial court was directed to proceed in accordance with law after the chargesheet was filed. The Supreme Court has now sought responses from the High Court administration and the officer, and the matter is listed for further consideration on December 11, according to Mirror Now's report of the proceedings.