O R D E R

Dated this the 23^rd day of February, 2026 This criminal leave petition has been filed under Section 419 (4) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita , 2023, at the instance of the complainant in S.T. No.5/2022 on the files of the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court-V, Thrissur, seeking leave of this Court to file appeal challenging the judgment of acquittal in the above case dated 24.10.2025.

2. In view of the judgment of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Celestium Financial v. A.Gnanasekaran etc. reported in [2025 (4) KHC 189] , which was followed in the decision of this Court in Soumya Gopal v. State of Kerala reported in [2026 KHC OnLine 24], this leave petition required to be returned to the leave petitioner with liberty to proviso to Section 413 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita , 2023.

3. Hence, this leave petition is returned with liberty to directed to return this leave petition today itself to the leave petitioner, on application.

It is made clear that the period of pendency of this Crl.L.P. from 16.02.2026 till date shall be excluded from calculating the period of limitation for filing appeal before the Sessions Court concerned. It is further made clear tha