Government of Gujarat vs Hareshbhai alias Harish Rameshbhai Nayak — 3997/2025

Summary The court dropped the criminal proceedings and discharged the accused because the investigating officer illegally initiated investigation into non-cognizable offences under the Gujarat Prohibition Act, 1949 (Section 66(1)(b)) without obtaining mandatory prior permission from the Magistrate as required under Section 174(2) of BNSS. The court held that the 2017 Amendment deleted the provision making all offences cognizable, thereby classifying this offence as non-cognizable due to its maximum punishment of six months, and that procedural safeguards cannot be circumvented even under special statutes. This case analysis is maintained by casestatus.in based on publicly available court records.