Prayagraj: The Allahabad high court has rejected a plea seeking registration of an FIR against Jagadguru Rambhadracharya over his alleged remarks concerning the ‘Upadhyay’ community and revered religious personalities, including the Shankaracharyas, after the petitioner approached the HC directly without first filing a plea before the magistrate concerned.However, the HC granted the petitioner liberty to avail himself of an appropriate remedy under law, if adviced.The division bench comprising Justice Chandra Dhari Singh and Justice Tarun Saxena observed that a person aggrieved by the non-registration of an FIR must ordinarily first exhaust the statutory remedies available under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) before invoking the high court’s extraordinary jurisdiction under Article 226.The HC dismissed the writ petition filed by Ramesh Upadhyay of Varanasi, while granting him liberty to avail himself of an appropriate remedy under law.According to the petitioner, he belongs to the ‘Upadhyay’ community and alleged that certain statements made by Jagadguru Rambhadracharya caused “grave mental agony, humiliation and insult to him and other members of the community”.The petitioner alleged that Jagadguru Rambhadracharya referred to Upadhyays as low/inferior and also described the four Shankaracharyas as fake, thereby hurting the religious sentiments of several followers.The petitioner claimed that the statements and videos containing them were publicly circulated on social media platforms, including YouTube.He apprised the court that he had submitted a complaint to the Varanasi police commissioner on Oct 8, 2025, seeking registration of an FIR against Rambhadracharya under appropriate penal provisions. However, no FIR had been registered till date.The state, on the other hand, opposed the petition, contending that the petitioner had not approached the police station concerned and had directly moved the HC without first availing the remedy under Section 175(3) of the BNSS before the judicial magistrate.In its order dated Sept 1, the court observed, “If a person has a grievance that his FIR has not been registered by the police, or that having been registered, a proper investigation is not being done, then the remedy of the aggrieved person is not to approach the HC under Article 226 of the Constitution, but to approach the magistrate concerned under Section 156(3) CrPC. (Section 175(3) BNSS).”
