Lucknow, March 3 -- Taking a serious view of arbitrary freezing of bank accounts by police in cases of cyber frauds or UPI transactions with a person involved in any fraud or crime, the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court has directed the state police to adopt a five-point protocol to prevent blanket freezing of bank accounts solely on informal police requests by email or letters.

The high court ruled that police cannot freeze entire bank accounts solely on a whim or a simple request, terming a blanket freeze illegal.

Only the exact, specific amount, suspected of being proceeds of crime can be frozen, and police must inform the magistrate within 24 hours, the court said.

Justice Shekhar B Saraf and Justice Manjive Shukla gave the...