JUDGMENT :

VIKRAM NATH, J.

Criminal Appeal No. 377/2007

1. This Constitution Bench has been constituted to consider whether the declaration made by a Constitution Bench of this Court, in the case of Subramanian Swamy vs. Director, Central Bureau of Investigation and Another, (2014) 8 SCC 682 that Section 6A of the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, 194¹ [In short ‘DSPE Act’] being unconstitutional, can be applied retrospectively in context with Article 20 of the Constitution.

2. Necessary facts relevant for the purposes of this case are stated hereunder:

2.1 The appellant-Central Bureau of Investigation² [In short “CBI”] after registering the First Information Report at 02:00 pm on 16.12.2004 for offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988³ [In short “PC Act 1988”] laid a trap in the evening on the same day wherein the respondent is said to have accepted bribe to set the things right for the radiologist conducting Pre-Natal test to determine the sex of the foetus in contravention of the Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) Act, 1994. The respondent applied for discharge, inter-alia, amongst others on the ground that the trap which was a