IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB & HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Date of decision: 12^th January, 2026 Harjinder Pal Singh ...Petitioner Versus State of Punjab ...Respondent CORAM: HON'BLE MRS. JUSTICE MANISHA BATRA Present: Mr. Vrishank Suri, Advocate for the petitioner.

Ms. Ruchika Sabherwal, Sr. DAG, Punjab.

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MANISHA BATRA, J (ORAL):-

The present petition has been filed under Section 483 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (for short ‘BNSS’) by the petitioner seeking grant of regular bail in case bearing FIR No. 215 dated 01.12.2020 registered under Sections 364-A, 369, 342, 506, 381, 427, 171, 120-B and 411 of IPC and Section 25 of Arms Act, 1959 at Police Station Dugri, Ludhiana, Punjab.

2. The aforementioned FIR was registered on the basis of statement recorded by the complainant Pankaj Gupta on 01.12.2020, alleging therein that he had hired the petitioner as his driver some time back. On the same day, at about 1.45 PM, the petitioner had taken the complainant’s two-and-a-half- year-old son, namely Vinmar Gupta, in the Swift Dzire car of the complainant for a round and did not return. The wife of the complainant made a call on the mobile phone of the petitioner, who responded by