Prayagraj, May 15 (PTI) The Allahabad High Court has refused to quash an FIR and stay the arrest of a court staffer accused of committing forgery in court documents.

The court observed that fraud by a court staff has far-reaching detrimental effects on the justice system and erodes public trust in the judiciary.

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A bench comprising justices Siddharth and Vinod Diwakar stated this while dismissing a writ petition filed by Suresh Kumar Mishra, who is accused of committing fraud while working as a senior assistant in the court of chief judicial magistrate (CJM), Sonbhadra.

"When court staff abuse their authority for personal gain, it compromises the integrity of judicial decisions and raises questions about the legitimacy of legal proceedings," it said.

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The court made these observations while refusing to quash the FIR under sections 420 (cheating), 120-B (conspiracy) and other sections of IPC against Mishra.

Rejecting the plea, the court in its decision dated May 7 said that the investigation is at a premature stage and the role of the petitioner has surfaced as a kingpin in executing the crime.

Further noting that the allegations against the petitioner clearly constitute a cognisable offence justifying the registration of FIR and the investigation thereon, the court refused to allow the criminal writ petition.

The petition was dismissed with the direction that the investigation be completed as soon as possible.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)