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Court directed the entire District Judiciary to ensure that cognizance is taken only after careful consideration, and the practice of rubber stamp cognizance must cease immediately
The Madras High Court recently highlighted a concerning trend wherein lower courts were found routinely resorting to rubber stamp cognizance in many cases.
This trend has to be stopped, said Justice N Anand Venkatesh.
A cognizance order of 2019 was placed before the high court, which deemed it a case of rubber stamp cognizance.
Consequently, court set aside the cognizance order and sent it back to the trial court for passing a fresh cognizance order by "applying the mind".
Furthermore, the court underlined that any instance of rubber stamp cognizance in the future would necessitate an explanation.
It emphasized that such practices violate the directions of the Supreme Court, which are followed to by the Madras High Court.
"...such rubber stamp cognizance has been deprecated by the Apex Court and this judgment was also followed by this Court in Shanmugam and others Vs. Inspector of Police, Ariyalur Police Station, Ariyalur and others reported in (2019) 3 MLJ (Crl.) 339, the single judge bench noted.
To address the issue, court directed its order to be circulated to all the Principal District Judges across the State of Tamil Nadu.
It directed the entire District Judiciary to ensure that cognizance is taken only after careful consideration, and the practice of rubber stamp cognizance must cease immediately.
CASE TITLE: SABARITHA v. THE SUB INSPECTOR OF POLICE AND ANOTHER
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