Advocates appeared:
For the Petitioner(s): Mr. Sidharth Luthra, Sr. Adv. Mr. D. L. Chidananda, AOR Mr. Karl P Rustomkhan, Adv. Mr. Mohd. Osama, Adv. Mr. Rajneesh Sharma, Adv. Mr. Suhail Ahmed, Adv.
For the Respondent(s): Mrs. Aishwarya Bhati, A.S.G. Mr. Mukesh Kumar Maroria, AOR Ms. Priyanka Das, Adv. Mr. Mohd Akhil, Adv. Mr. Padmesh Mishra, Adv. Ms. Shrdha Deshmukh, Adv. Ms. Sairica Raju, Adv. Mr. Annam Venkatesh, Adv. Mr. Udai Khanna, Adv. Mr. Vatsal Joshi, Adv. Ms. Aishwarya Bhati, A.S.G. Mr. Vatsal Joshi, Adv. Ms. Kanu Agrawal, Adv. Mr. Varun Chugh, Adv. Mr. Bhuvan Kapoor, Adv. Mr. Krishna Kant Dubey, Adv. Mr. Piyush Beriwal, Adv. Ms. Indira Bhakar, Adv. Mr. Harish Pandey, Adv. Mr. Shashwat Parihar, Adv. Mr. Santosh Ramdurg, Adv. Mr. Rajesh singh Chavhan, Adv. Mr. Shreekant Neelappa Terdal, AOR Mr. Arvind Kumar Sharma, AOR Mr. Mahesh Agarwal, Adv. Mr. Ankur Saigal, Adv. Mr. Anshuman Srivastava, Adv. Mr. Shashwat Singh, Adv. Mr. E. C. Agrawala, AOR Mr. Abhimanyu Tewari, AOR Mr. Pukhrambam Ramesh Kumar, AOR Mr. Karun Sharma, Adv. Ms. Anupama Ngangom, Adv. Ms. Rajkumari Divyasana, Adv. Mr. Aravindh S., AOR Ms. Jyotika Sharma, Adv. Mr. Anando Mukherjee, AOR Mr. Shwetank Singh, Adv. Mr. Utkarsh Anand, Adv. Mr. Malak Manish Bhatt, AOR Mr. Amit Gupta, AOR Mr. Amit Gupta, Adv. Ms. Muskan Nagpal, Adv. Mr. Kshitij Vaibhav, Adv. Ms. Swati Ghildiyal, AOR Ms. Deepanwita Priyanka, Adv. Ms. Neha Singh, Adv. Mr. Rishi Yadav, Adv. Mr. Sudarshan Singh Rawat, AOR Ms. Saakshi Singh Rawat, Adv. Mr. Sunny Sachin Rawat, Adv. Mr. Akshay Amritanshu , AOR Mr. Sartha Srivastava, Adv. Mr. Nikhil Jain, AOR Mr. Arjun Garg, AOR Mr. Saaransh Shukla, Adv. Ms. Muskan Bensla, Adv. Mr. Shaurya Sahay, AOR Mr. Aman Jaiswal, Adv. Ms. Palak Mathur, Adv. Mr. Abhishek Singh, AOR Mr. Sabarish Subramanian, AOR Mr. Aditya Vaibhav Singh Ga, Adv. Mr. Harmeet Singh Ruprah, AOR Mr. P. I. Jose, AOR Ms. P S Chandralekha, Adv. Mr. Pradeep Misra, AOR Mr. Karan Sharma, AOR Mr. Guntur Pramod Kumar, AOR Ms. Prerna Singh, Adv. Mr. Dhruv Yadav, Adv. Mr. Abhikalp Pratap Singh, AOR Ms. Aagam Kaur, Adv. Ms. Kashish Jain, Adv. Mr. Siddharth Garg, Adv. Mr. V. N. Raghupathy, AOR Mr. Suvendu Suvasis Dash, AOR Mr. Amit Pai, AOR Ms. Pankhuri Bhardwaj, Adv. Mr. Tathagata Dutta, Adv. Ms. Vishakha, AOR Miss Astha Singh, AOR Mr. Shailja Singh ,Adv. Mr. Sanjai Kumar Pathak, AOR Mrs. Shashi Pathak, Adv. Mr. Arvind Kumar Tripathi, Adv. Mr. Robin Kumar, Adv. Ms. Shweta Jayshankar Dwivedi, Adv. Ms. Smriti Singh, Adv. Mr. Nishe Rajen Shonker, AOR Mrs. Anu K Joy, Adv. Mr. Alim Anvar, Adv. Mr. Santhosh K, Adv. Mrs. Devika A.l., Adv. Mr. Ramesh Babu M. R., AOR Mr. Sanchit Garga, AOR Mr. Kunal Rana, Adv. Mr. Shashwat Jaiswal, Adv. Mr. Abhay Anil Anturkar, Adv. Mr. Dhruv Tank, Adv. Ms. Surbhi Kapoor, AOR Mr. Sarthak Mehrotra, Adv. Mr. Bhagwant Deshpande, Adv. Ms. Subhi Pastor, Adv. Mr. Ajay Pal, AOR Mr. Kunal Chatterji, AOR Ms. Maitrayee Banerjee, Adv. Mr. Rohit Bansal, Adv. Mr. Varij Nayan Mishra, Adv. Ms. Devina Sehgal, AOR Mr. Dhananjay Yadav, Adv. Mr. Yatharth Kansal, Adv. Ms. Eliza Barr, Adv. Ms. Disha Singh, AOR Mr. Mahfooz Ahsan Nazki, AOR Mr. Prashant Shrikant Kenjale, AOR Mr. Ahanthem Henry, Adv. Mr. Ahanthem Rohen Singh, Adv. Mr. Mohan Singh, Adv. Mr. Aniket Rajput, Adv. Ms. Khoisnam Nirmala Devi, Adv. Mr. Yeshu Mehta, Adv. Mr. Tanay Hegde, Adv. Mr. Kumar Mihir, AOR Mr. Avdhesh Kumar Singh, A.A.G. Ms. Prerna Dhall, Adv. Mr. Ambuj Swaroop, Adv. Mr. Kapil Katare, Adv. Ms. Rajnandani Kumari, Adv. Mr. Prashant Singh, AOR Mr. Dhananjay Kumar Singh, Adv. Mr. Saksham Gahoi, Adv. Mr. Vishwas Sharma, Adv. Mr. Shiv Mangal Sharma, A.A.G. Ms. Abhinandini Sharma, Adv. Ms. Nidhi Jaswal, AOR Mr. R. Basant, Sr. Adv.(not present) Mr. T. G. Narayanan Nair, AOR Ms. Samyuktha H Nair, Adv. Mr. Manish Kumar, AOR Mr. Divyansh Mishra, Adv. Mr. Kumar Saurav, Adv. Ms. Rashmi Nandakumar, AOR Ms. Yashmita Pandey, Adv. Mr. Rajiv Kumar Choudhry, AOR Mr. Kunal Mimani, AOR Mr. Prashant Alai, Adv. Mr. Amit Sharma, AOR Mr. Dipesh Sinha, Adv. Ms. Pallavi Barua, Adv. Ms. Aparna Singh, Adv. Mr. Maibam Nabaghanashyam Singh, AOR Mr. Parth Awasthi, Adv. Mr. Pashupathi Nath Razdan, AOR Ms. Maitreyee Jagat Joshi, Adv. Mr. Astik Gupta, Adv. Ms. Akanksha Tomar, Adv. Ms. Astha Sharma, AOR Ms. Nidhi Mittal, AOR Mr. Shishir Kumar Saxena, Adv. Mr. R.n. Pareek, Adv. Mr. Ankur Parihar, Adv. Mr. R.d. Maurya, Adv. Mr. Praveen Swarup, AOR Mr. Avijit Mani Tripathi, AOR Mr. T.k. Nayak, Adv. Ms. Marbiang Khongwir, Adv. Mr. Sameer Abhyankar, AOR Mr. Rahul Kumar, Adv. Mr. Aakash Thakur, Adv. Mr. Vishal Prasad, AOR Ms. Asmita Singh, AOR Ms. Asmita Singh, Adv. Ms. Ankita Makan, Adv. Mr. Kaushik Choudhury, AOR Mr. Debojit Borkakati, AOR Ms. Pallavi Langar, AOR Ms. Pragya Bhagel, Adv. Mr. Sujeet Kumar Chaubey, Adv. Mr. Nirnimesh Dube, AOR Mr. Somesh Chandra Jha, AOR M/S. Arputham Aruna And Co, AOR Mr. R. Ayyam Perumal, AOR Mr. Yashvardhan, Adv. Mr. Apoorv Shukla, AOR Ms. Prabhleen A. Shukla, Adv. Mr. Aman Panwar, Adv. Mr. Mudit Gupta, AOR Mr. Akash Panwar, Adv. Mr. Abhinav Kumar, Adv. Mr. Manav Kaushik, Adv. Mr. Ashish Batra, AOR Mr. Ankur Prakash, AOR Ms. K. Enatoli Sema, AOR Mr. Amit Kumar Singh, Adv. Ms. Chubalemla Chang, Adv. Mr. Prang Newmai, Adv. Ms. Yanmi Phazang, Adv. Mr. Rahul Gupta, AOR Mr. Sarad Kumar Singhania, AOR Ms. Rooh-e-hina Dua, AOR Mr. Shrirang B. Varma, Adv. Mr. Siddharth Dharmadhikari, Adv. Mr. Aaditya Aniruddha Pande, AOR Mr. Varinder Kumar Sharma, AOR Mr. S. K. Bandopadhyay, Adv. Ms. Manisha Ambwani, AOR Mr. Anjuman Tripathy, AOR Mr. Aditya Jain, AOR Mr. Somanadri Goud Katam, AOR Mr. Sirajuddin, Adv. Mr. Sunny Choudhary, AOR Mr. Aditya Vaibhav Singh Ga, Adv. Mr. Harmeet Singh Ruprah Aor, Adv. Mr. Shuvodeep Roy, AOR Mr. Deepayan Dutta, Adv. Mr. Saurabh Tripathi, Adv. Ms. Enakshi Mukhopadhyay Siddhanta, AOR Mr. Rao Raj Bahadur Singh, Adv. Ms. Archana Sharma, Adv. Mr. Suriya Kannan Sabanayagam, Adv.
1. A seminal issue which has arisen for our consideration is: Whether notices under Section 35(3) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (hereinafter referred to as the “BNSS, 2023”) are to be mandatorily issued in all cases, qua an offence punishable with imprisonment up to 7 years?
2. The consequential issue is: Whether in the absence of circumstances under Sections 35(1)(b)(i) and 35(1)(b)(ii) of the BNSS, 2023 existing, is an arrest by a police officer, qua an offence punishable with imprisonment up to 7 years, legally justified?
3. At the outset, learned Amicus Curiae Mr. Sidharth Luthra submitted that in the absence of specific circumstances under Sections 35(1)(b)(i) and 35(1)(b)(ii) of the BNSS, 2023 existing, an arrest by a Police Officer, qua an offence punishable with imprisonment up to 7 years, is not legally justified. Reliance is placed on the judgment of this Court in Arnesh Kumar v. State of Bihar & Anr, Click Here to Read the rest of this document