The Allahabad High Court has ruled that constitutional functionaries, including Members of Parliament (MPs), judges, and ministers, are entitled to the honorific 'Hon'ble'. This decision was made by a division bench comprising Justice JJ Munir and Justice Tarun Saxena, emphasizing that those exercising sovereign functions within the government must be addressed with this title in all communications. The court clarified that civil servants, regardless of their rank, do not have the right to use the honorific. This ruling arose from a case in which the Uttar Pradesh Police failed to include 'Hon'ble' before the name of an MP in an FIR, prompting the court to seek clarification on the protocol. The court reiterated that the honorific should be reserved for constitutional functionaries and accepted counter-affidavits from the state and respondent counsel regarding the matter. The case was part of a plea seeking to quash proceedings related to criminal intimidation and breach of trust involving the former Union minister's name, which was mentioned in the FIR without him being named as an accused.