Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023

The Rajasthan High Court granted bail to a pickup driver held with 162.800 kg of poppy husk, finding prima facie total non-compliance with Section 42 of the NDPS Act: police had received secret information before the night interception but sent nothing to superior officers. With the accused in custody for about two and a half years and charges not yet framed, the Court held the Section 37 twin conditions prima facie satisfied (paras 7-10).

The Rajasthan High Court suspended the ten-year sentence of a Jaipur medical-store owner convicted under the NDPS Act, finding prima facie that the samples sent for testing were not drawn before a Magistrate under Section 52A (paras 9, 11-12). Because the same police constable was shown present at two searches during overlapping times, it asked the Director General of Police to inquire (paras 15, 17).

The Rajasthan High Court discharged three accused of organised crime under Section 111 of the BNS in a cyber-fraud case, holding that the charge needs prima facie material of an organised crime syndicate, continuing unlawful activity and the accused's nexus with it (paras 12-13, 17). A single night's recovery of other people's bank documents showed at most cheating or conspiracy (paras 14, 17). The remaining charges go to a Magistrate (para 19).

The Rajasthan High Court granted bail to a man accused of passing information on military establishments to Pakistani handlers, because nothing on record showed that written grounds of arrest were ever given to him (paras 4, 16, 23). Following Mihir Rajesh Shah, it held that oral disclosure is not compliance and that the prosecutor and the remand Magistrate had also failed to check (paras 17-18). It ordered action against the investigating officer and the prosecutor (para 29).

The J&K and Ladakh High Court at Srinagar refused bail to a man allegedly found with 602 g of charas, whose disclosure led police to two co-accused holding 498 g and 318 g (para 2). As the prosecution had invoked Section 29, the Court treated the 1.416 kg aggregate as prima facie commercial quantity, so Section 37 applied; the Barot principle against clubbing did not apply ipso facto, and the twin conditions were not met (paras 9, 12, 14-16).

The Rajasthan High Court transferred to the CBI the investigation of a cyber-fraud FIR against young women working at a call centre, finding prima facie that police picked up ten women from their homes the evening before the FIR and kept them at the police station overnight (paras 14, 28, 32). Missing CCTV footage, inconsistent diary entries and arrest memos suggested fabrication, and the trial was deferred despite the charge-sheet (paras 12-13, 33).

The Rajasthan High Court held that police who parade arrested persons, photograph them in degrading conditions or circulate their images on social media impose a punishment the law does not recognise (paras 13, 17-18). On a petition by Jaisalmer villagers whose post-arrest photographs were posted by the police, it declared police-orchestrated social-media condemnation a form of punishment without legal sanction and directed that 'Do's and Don'ts' be displayed at every police station (para 18).

The Rajasthan High Court held that Section 430 of the BNSS and Section 148 of the Negotiable Instruments Act operate independently, and that an appellate court cannot routinely demand a 20% deposit of the fine as a precondition for suspending a cheque-dishonour sentence (paras 7-9). Applying Jamboo Bhandari, it set aside the deposit condition and directed the Sessions Court to hear the appeal without pre-deposit, preferably within six months (paras 10-12).

The Rajasthan High Court quashed bailable warrants issued after a charge-sheet against four petitioners who had never been arrested during the investigation (para 19). Relying on Siddharth v. State of Uttar Pradesh and Satender Kumar Antil v. CBI, Justice Baljinder Singh Sandhu held that 'custody' under Section 170 CrPC means only presenting the accused before the Court, and that such accused should not be sent to custody merely so that bail can be considered (paras 10-11, 17).

The Rajasthan High Court at Jaipur dismissed an application by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence to cancel the bail granted to two accused in a case involving 3.727 kg of hydroponic weed (paras 1-2, 9). Following the Supreme Court's order in Puranmal Jat, which holds that the Section 37 NDPS restriction on bail does not apply below commercial quantity, it found no merit in the complaint that the trial court had ignored that restriction (paras 6-8).

The Rajasthan High Court set aside a Kota Chief Judicial Magistrate's refusal to issue a no-objection certificate for passport renewal to an accused facing 23 criminal cases, none ending in conviction. Stopping renewal, and so travel abroad, merely because criminal cases are pending violates Article 21, it held, and the passport authority must decide a fresh renewal application under Section 5 of the Passports Act within 30 days (paras 10-11).

The Rajasthan High Court refused anticipatory bail to a Dubai-based man whom the State accuses of running a 'digital arrest' fraud that took Rs 80 lakh from an 83-year-old woman (paras 7-8, 16). A compromise signed by his father, not by him, could not help, because organised cyber fraud affects society at large (para 15). Using its inherent powers, the Court told the trial court to consider releasing the Rs 13.40 lakh recovered to the complainant within seven days of her application (para 18).