Gauhati High Court: In a PIL filed before this Court, wherein petitioner challenged the validity of Section 106(2) of the Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (‘BNS, 2023’), the Division Bench of Vijay Bishnoi*, CJ., and Kaushik Goswami, J., disposed of the PIL and stated that the Director General of Police, Assam (‘DGP, Assam’), should issue necessary directions to the police stations under his jurisdiction to not register any case under Section 106(2) of BNS, 2023, as the said provision had not come into force till date.
It was stated in the petition that Section 106(2) of BNS, 2023, which provided that no person accused of any offence shall be compelled to be a witness against himself, was in violation of Article 20(3) of the Constitution.
It was submitted that the Government of India, in exercise of the powers conferred by Section 1(2) of BNS, 2023, had issued a notification dated 23-02-2024, which stated that the provisions of BNS, 2023, except the provision of Section 106(2) shall come into force from 01-07-2024. Therefore, it was clear that the provision of Section 106(2) of BNS, 2023 had not come into force till the present date and in such circumstances, petitioner’s challenge to Section 106(2) of BNS, 2023 was premature and thus, the question of declaring Section 106 as unconstitutional did not arise.
Counsel for petitioner stated that the Assam Police was registering cases under Section 106(2) of BNS, 2023 even though the said provision had not come into force.
The Court opined that if the police was registering cases under Section 106(2), then the individual person against whom such case was registered, was free to avail appropriate remedy available by approaching the competent court. However, the Court stated that the DGP, Assam, should issue necessary directions to police stations under his jurisdiction to not register any case under Section 106(2) of BNS, 2023, which had not come into force till date.
The Court accordingly disposed of the PIL.
[Ritumani Deka v. Union of India, 2024 SCC OnLine Gau 1997, decided on 09-12-2024]
Judgement pronounced by- Chief Justice Vijay Bishnoi
Advocates who appeared in this case :
For the Petitioner- Ritumani Deka, petitioner in person
For the Respondent- R.K.D. Choudhury, CGC; R.K. Borah, Addl. Sr. GA, Assam
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