The Allahabad High Court took an exception to the Uttar Pradesh Police not inserting honorifics like ‘Hon’ble’ or ‘Mr’ before the name of BJP MP Anurag Thakur while mentioning him as a Union minister in an FIR registered against a Mathura resident in December last year.The court directed the UP Additional Chief Secretary, Home Department, to file an affidavit explaining the reason behind police not abiding by the protocol by using the honorifics.A division bench of Justices JJ Munir and Tarun Saxena issued the direction on March 31 while hearing a writ petition seeking relief in a case filed against the petitioner and two others at the Highway police station in Mathura on December 21 last year.The former Union minister’s name was mentioned in the FIR by the complainant, Khajan Singh, also a resident of Mathura, accusing Harshit Sharma (petitioner in HC) of collecting Rs 80 lakh from him, his relatives and friends for providing jobs in government departments and the ministry, claiming his close association with Anurag Thakur.The bench observed, “The Additional Chief Secretary, (Home), Government of UP, Lucknow, will explain on his affidavit why in the FIR the Hon’ble Union Minister, whose name figures, has not been described with the usual honorific of Hon’ble, and at one point, referred to just by his name without even appending a ‘Mr’.”The court added, “Even if in the written report, the Hon’ble Minister was inappropriately described by the first informant, while writing the check FIR, it was the duty of the Police to have abided by the protocol by inserting the honorific, may be in brackets.”The bench also directed the Additional Government Advocate to seek instructions and inform the court as to who is the registered owner of the Toyota Fortuner, which the complainant in the FIR has in his possession, as he says, and given to him by the first petitioner.Story continues below this adListing the matter for hearing on April 6, the bench added, “Let this order be communicated to the Additional Chief Secretary, (Home), Government of U.P., Lucknow and the Senior Superintendent of Police, Mathura, through the learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, Mathura, by the Registrar (Compliance) within 48 hours.”Talking to The Indian Express, the complainant, Khajan Singh, said he had met Harshit Sharma in 2023 when Anurag Thakur was a minister. “He used to claim to be close to the minister. After he failed to provide jobs, I went to the Delhi residence of Anurag Thakur on July 28, 2025, and narrated to him how Sharma had cheated him using the BJP leader’s name.”Thakur then called up Sharma to his residence the same day, reprimanded him and handed him over to the South Avenue police station, he said.Thakur was not a Union minister at the time.Sharma was released from police custody after he promised to return the money soon, and gave his Toyota Fortuner SUV as a guarantee, Singh claimed.Story continues below this adIn the FIR, the complainant alleged that Sharma had even engaged two local criminals who were caught from outside his house in Mathura stealing the SUV. The two were handed over to the local police but were released without any action, he had alleged.