Police authorities are bound to follow the procedure laid down under Section 41A Cr.P.C. when investigating offences punishable with imprisonment of seven years or more.

Headnote:
CRIMINAL PROCEDURE CODE - SECTION 41A - ARREST - GUIDELINES
Fact of the Case:

The petitioner sought to quash an FIR registered against him under Sections 406, 420, and 120B of the IPC, arguing that the police failed to follow the procedure laid down under Section 41A of the CrPC.
Finding of the Court:

The court held that the guidelines framed by the Apex Court in Arnesh Kumar v. State of Bihar and Social Action Forum for Manav Adhikar v. Union of India are applicable to the facts of the instant case.
Issues: Whether the police authorities are bound to follow the procedure laid down under Section 41A Cr.P.C. when investigating offences punishable with imprisonment of seven years or more.
Ratio Decidendi: The court relied on the Supreme Court's judgments in Arnesh Kumar v. State of Bihar and Social Action Forum for Manav Adhikar v. Union of India, which held that the police must follow the procedure laid down under Section 41A Cr.P.C. when investigating offences punishable with imprisonment of seven years or more.
Final Decision: The court disposed of the petition in terms of the judgments noted above, effectively quashing the FIR against the petitioner.

Court No. - 43

Case :- CRIMINAL MISC. WRIT PETITION No. - 20363 of

2022

Petitioner :- Ashish Singh Kapoor @ Sonu @ Sani

Respondent :- State Of U.P. And 3 Others

Counsel for Petitioner :- Pankaj Dwivedi

Counsel for Respondent :- G.A.

Hon'ble Vivek Kumar Birla,J.

Hon'ble Gajendra Kumar,J.

Heard Sri Pankaj Dwivedi, learned counsel for the petitioner

and learned A.G.A. for the State respondents.

The present writ petition has been preferred with the prayer to

quash the impugned First Information Report dated 26.10.2022,

registered as Case Crime No.629 of 2022, under Section 406 of

IPC, added Sections 420 & 120B of IPC, Police Station- Iglas,

District- Aligarh and for a direction restraining the respondents

from taking any coercive measures against the petitioner in

pursuance of impugned First Information Report.

The submission is that all alleged offences are punishable with

imprisonment of seven years, therefore the police authorities

are bound to follow the procedure laid down under Section 41-

A Cr.P.C. The petitioners have been wrongly implicated and

could not be arrested. Reliance has been placed on the

judgement of Apex Court in Arnesh Kumar Vs. State of

Bihar, (2014) 8 SCC 273 and Social Action Forum for

Manav Adhikar Vs. Union of India, Ministry of Law and

Justice and others in Writ Petition (Civil) No. 73 of 2015

with Criminal Appeal No. 1265 of 2017, Writ Petition

(Criminal) No. 156 of 2017 and co-ordinate Division Bench of

this Court in Vimal Kumar & 3 others Vs. State of U.P. & 3

others in 2021 (2) ACR 1147.

We have gone through the impugned first information report

and we are of the opinion that the guidelines framed by the

Apex Court in the above noted judgement are equally

applicable to the facts of the instant case.

Accordingly, the instant petition also stands disposed of in

terms of the judgements as noted above.

Order Date :- 6.1.2023

SK Goswami

Digitally signed by :-

SHIVAKANT GOSWAMI

High Court of Judicature at Allahabad