New Delhi, Aug. 6 -- The Supreme Court has directed that an Allahabad High Court judge be stripped of all criminal jurisdiction until his retirement and made to sit with a seasoned senior judge to understand the nuances of law, after finding his recent ruling to be one of the "worst and most erroneous" orders encountered by the top court. The unusual direction, issued by a bench of justices JB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan, came in a criminal matter where the high court judge, justice Prashant Kumar, dismissed a plea seeking quashing of a criminal case based on what the apex court termed as a purely civil dispute. "We are constrained to observe that the impugned order is one of the worst and most erroneous orders that we have come across in our respective tenures as judges of this Court... The judge concerned has not only cut a sorry figure for himself but has made a mockery of justice. We are at our wits' end to understand what is wrong with the Indian Judiciary at the level of High Court," said the bench in its order Monday. It wondered whether such orders are passed on some extraneous considerations or it is sheer ignorance of law. "Whatever it be, passing of such absurd and erroneous orders is something unpardonable," it stated. The court went on to direct the chief justice of the Allahabad HC to immediately withdraw the present "criminal determination" from the judge, and ensure he does not handle any criminal jurisdiction "till he demits office". "If at all at some point of time, he is to be made to sit as a single judge, he shall not be assigned any criminal determination," the bench said. Justice Kumar will retire in May 2029. It also urged the high court chief justice to assign the judge to sit on a division bench with a senior judge to guide him. "We have been constrained to issue directions.keeping in mind that the impugned order is not the only erroneous order of the concerned judge that we have looked into for the first time. Many such erroneous orders have been looked into by us...," noted the court, indicating a pattern of concern regarding the judge's decisions. The court's directions, notably removing a sitting high court judge from an entire category of judicial work, are rare and underscore the gravity with which the bench viewed the matter. The judgment came in an appeal against an order passed by justice Kumar in May 2025, rejecting a plea to quash criminal proceedings in a complaint case....