Government of Gujarat vs Mehulbhai Ratansing Baria — 3358/2025

Summary The court dropped the criminal proceedings against the accused charged under Section 66(1)(b) of the Gujarat Prohibition Act, 1949 for liquor consumption. The court found that the 2017 Amendment deleted the cognizable offense classification, making this a non-cognizable offense with maximum punishment under six months. Since the investigating officer failed to obtain prior Magistrate permission under Section 155(2) CrPC (now Section 174(2) BNSS) before investigation, the investigation was illegal and the court could not take cognizance of the vitiated report. The accused was discharged from bail bonds. This case analysis is maintained by casestatus.in based on publicly available court records.