Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The Supreme Court (SC) has stayed a Madhya Pradesh high court order which included scathing personal remarks against an additional sessions judge. A bench of justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta issued a notice to the MP HC.
The case originated from a criminal appeal filed before the Madhya Pradesh high court by a man convicted under the Indian Penal Code and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO Act). The trial court, presided over by additional sessions judge Pankaj Chaturvedi , convicted the accused and sentenced him to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment.
In November 2025, a division bench of the high court comprising justices Vivek Agarwal and Avanindra Kumar Singh allowed the appeal and acquitted the accused. The HC passed a separate order with caustic remarks on Chaturvedi’s merit as a Sessions judge.
It noted that Chaturvedi did not know how to handle evidence and was unfit to handle Sessions cases. It then placed the matter before the chief justice of the high court to assess whether he needed to be sent for training. Aggrieved by these remarks, Chaturvedi moved the Supreme Court.
Senior advocate Sanjay Hegde, who appeared on behalf of ADJ Pankaj Chaturvedi, informed the Free Press, “ The SC stayed the order on the ground that the HC may take any decision but its judges are not supposed to make such comments on trial court ADJ.”
