Loud Shouting Alone Is Not Disorderly Behaviour Under Section 85: Bombay High Court Quashes FIR, Imposes Costs

The two applicants, accused Nos. 1 and 2, sought quashing under Section 528 BNSS of FIR No. 210 of 2023, registered with Pimpri Police Station under Section 85(1) of the Maharashtra Prohibition Act, 1949 (paras 2-3). The FIR and the chargesheet since filed allege that, under the influence of alcohol, they were shouting loudly at each other on a public street, and the complaint alleged breach of public peace and disturbance to the public (para 3). One applicant was a law student (para 5). Their counsel submitted that mere volume cannot be equated with a violation of decency, relying on a Nagpur Bench decision on the meaning of ‘disorderly behaviour’ (para 6).

The Court noted that it was not the prosecution's case that the applicants shouted at any third party, and found prima facie, on a bare reading of the charges, that no cognizable offence was made out (para 4). Apart from the loud shouting there was no other specific allegation (para 5). Consumption of alcohol cannot by itself be an offence under Section 85; improper and disorderly behaviour must be culled out from the facts of each case, and here there was no charge of any element of obscenity, depravity or moral offensiveness (para 5). The Nagpur Bench had read ‘disorderly behaviour’ as behaviour that is out of order, irregular, lawless and defies the restraints of decency; nothing of that kind was seen, as the prosecution case "hinges only on the issue of loud shouting or causing disturbance of peace" (para 6). The Court recalled that Section 528 BNSS substantially reproduces Section 482 CrPC, a discretionary power, and the Bhajan Lal categories for quashing FIRs (paras 7-8). Because the applicants' loud shouting in a public place caused a nuisance that led to the criminal complaint, they were to pay costs (para 9).