The court granted the petitioner liberty to submit a representation to the Superintendent of Police for a fair investigation, including verification of an alibi, and provided interim protection from arrest subject to BNSS and Arnesh Kumar guidelines.

Order

1. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that he does not wish to press the instant criminal petition. However, he seeks liberty for the petitioner to submit a representation to the Superintendent of Police concerned, along with a direction to the said authority to consider and decide the same and to issue appropriate instructions to the Investigating Officer. He further prays for interim protection from arrest so as to enable the petitioner to avail the said remedy.

2. Accordingly, the instant criminal writ petition as well as the stay petition are dismissed as not pressed, with liberty to the petitioner to submit a detailed representation to the Superintendent of Police concerned, raising all the grounds urged in the present petition, within a period of 15 days from the date of receipt of this order.

3. In the event such a representation is submitted, the Superintendent of Police concerned shall objectively, independently and minutely consider the same. The Superintendent of Police shall ensure that the investigation is conducted fairly and impartially. It shall also be specifically examined by the Superintendent of Police himself as to whether the petitioner was in custody in another matter at the time of the alleged incident, as stated in the impugned FIR, and such aspect shall be given due and serious consideration while deciding the representation. All relevant documents submitted along with the representation shall also be duly taken into consideration. The representation shall be decided by a reasoned order within a period of 15 days from the date of its receipt, and thereafter, the result of the investigation shall be proceeded with and placed on record in accordance with law.

4. Considering the prayer so made, and only with a view to enable the petitioner to effectively raise his plea before the competent authority and to ensure a fair and impartial investigation, it is directed that the petitioner shall not be arrested for a period of 30 days from today in connection with FIR No.74/2026, PS Balotra, District Balotra. The agency is further directed to ensure compliance of Section 33 of BNSS as well as guidelines issued by Hon’ble the Supreme Court in case of Arnesh Kumar v. State of Bihar [AIR 2014 SC 2756] the doctrine of which is applicable in all cases in which punishment is less than seven years. This order shall not be construed as an expression on the merits of the case. All pending applications stand disposed of.