Overview

• Allowing Mohammad Wajir’s petition, a division bench directed the Siddharthnagar police to close his history sheet and cease surveillance.
• The court noted Wajir faces only a single 2016 case under the Uttar Pradesh Prevention of Cow Slaughter Act with no other FIRs or complaints, which does not make him a habitual offender.
• The judges said Regulations 228 and 240 do not grant unbridled or uncanalised authority to open history sheets or enter names in the surveillance register.
• The superintendent of police’s June 23 rejection of Wajir’s request was described as very casually done and unsupported by evidence beyond CO and SHO reports.
• The court underscored that reasonable suspicion must rest on cogent and reliable material, and that such registers are ordinarily meant for proclaimed offenders, previous convicts, or habitual offenders.