Mandate Of Serving Grounds Of Arrest In Writing Applies To Arrests From Date Of SC's Pankaj Bansal Ruling: Punjab & Haryana High Court

The Punjab & Haryana High Court has made it clear that the law laid down in the Pankaj Bansal case will be applicable prospectively which is after October 03, 2023, the date on which the judgment in Pankaj Bansal was pronounced.

In a landmark judgment in the case Pankaj Bansal v. Union of India, the Supreme Court held that the Directorate of Enforcement must furnish the reasons for arrest to the accused in writing.

Justice Jasjit Singh Bedi said, "The proposition of law that emerges is that the grounds of arrest must be supplied in writing to an accused but the law as laid down in Pankaj Bansal (supra) is to supply is prospectively after 03.10.2023 i.e. the date on which the judgment in Pankaj Bansal (supra) was pronounced."

These observations were made while hearing a bail plea in a murder case under Sections 302, 34 IPC, 1860 and Sections 25 and 29 of Arms Act.

It was alleged that the accused Anurag along with the petitioner Ravinder and Sandeep @ Koki had committed murder. Anurag allegedly confessed that he fired at the deceased with his country-made pistol, the petitioner had inflicted Danda blows on the head of Sumit whereas Sandeep @ Koki had inflicted leg and fist blows.

Counsel for the petitioner contended that no specific role has been attributed to the petitioner. His role, if any, has only arisen from a confessional statement made by his co-accused and by his own confessional statement as per which he is stated to have given stick blows on the person of the deceased.

Relying on the Pankaj Bansal case, he submitted that no grounds of arrest were communicated to the petitioner at the time of his arrest.

After examining the submissions, the Court noted that in the Pankaj Bansal case,  the Apex Court made it mandatory to supply written grounds of arrest to the arrested person and non-compliance would entail the release of the accused person straightway.

The Court highlighted that the Supreme Court in Ram Kishor Arora v. Directorate of Enforcement held that its judgment in Pankaj Bansal v. Union of India which held that the ED must furnish the grounds of arrest to the accused in writing does not apply retrospectively.

A bench comprising Justices Bela M Trivedi and Satish Chandra Sharma held that non-furnishing of grounds of arrest till the date of pronouncement in Pankaj Bansal (October 3, 2023) cannot be held to be illegal.

In the present case, the Court noted that the petitioner was arrested on 23.02.2022 much prior to 03.10.2023 i.e. the date on which the judgment in Pankai Bansal (supra) was pronounced. Therefore, he cannot get any benefit of the law as laid down in the ruling.

In light of the above, the plea was dismissed.

Mr. Abhijeet Chaudhary, Advocate for the petitioner.

Mr. Dharam Pal, AAG, Haryana.

Mr. Rahul Singh, Advocate for complainant.

Titile: Ravinder v. State of Haryana

Citation: 2025 LiveLaw (PH) 87

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