New Delhi [India], April 7 (ANI): The Supreme Court on Monday came down heavily on Uttar Pradesh Police for its 'absurd' practice of converting civil disputes into criminal cases.

A bench of Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justices Sanjay Kumar and KV Viswanathan termed such a practice wrong, absurd and contrary to the guidelines issued by the top court in an earlier judgement.

It clarified that the act of taking and not returning money is not a criminal offence.

'This is something strange which is happening day in and day out in UP. A case of merely giving money and not returning of that money is not a criminal offence. This is absolutely no case, there's no criminal case at all,' said CJI Khanna.

Calling into question the state authorities' irregularity in this regard, the CJI said, 'I will ask the investigating officer to stand in the witness box and record his pre-summoning evidence. I will haul up and begin proceedings against the IO.'

After having issued its warning, the top court stayed the criminal trial proceedings filed against the accused.

Further, the bench also ordered the DGP of UP police and the investigating officer (IO) of the concerned police station to file their affidavits in compliance with an earlier judgement, where the Court had guidelines in this regard.

The top court was hearing a plea filed by one Surendra Singh Bhandari who challenged criminal proceedings filed against him in connection with a dispute related to money. UP Police had charged him with cheating, which is a criminal offence.

When the matter came up for hearing, the top court found that the procedure taken up by the state authorities, including the filing of the charge sheet and issuing the summoning order were in contravention of its earlier directions.

Thus, the Court ordered UP Police to file an affidavit explaining why it failed to comply with the Court's earlier directions in this regard. (ANI)