{"id":389196,"date":"2026-07-03T09:00:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T03:30:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/?p=389196"},"modified":"2026-07-02T18:02:21","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T12:32:21","slug":"parvinder-singh-section-223-bnss-analysis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2026\/07\/03\/parvinder-singh-section-223-bnss-analysis\/","title":{"rendered":"The Erasure of Statutory Distinction: A Critical Review of Parvinder Singh v. Directorate of Enforcement"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Despite its civil liberties appeal, Parvinder Singh’s ratio suffers from a profound conceptual oversight: it effectively obliterates the long-recognised statutory distinction between official complaints and private complaints filed by ordinary citizens.<\/p>\n

In Parvinder Singh<\/span> v. Enforcement Directorate<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span>1<\/sup><\/a>, the Supreme Court held that the accused must be given an opportunity of hearing under the first proviso to Section 223(1)<\/a><\/span>,<\/span> Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023<\/a> (BNSS<\/a>), even if the prosecution complaint itself had been filed prior to 1 July 2024. The court clarified that failure to provide such hearing renders the cognizance order void ab initio.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, it held that the proviso to Section 223(1)<\/a> BNSS<\/a> confers a substantive right upon the accused and forms part of the guarantee of fair trial under Article 21<\/a> of the Constitution of India<\/a>. The Bench further ruled that mere ministerial acts, such as numbering a complaint and posting it for cognizance, do not amount to an “inquiry” under Section 2(1)(k<\/span>)<\/span><\/a> BNSS<\/a> so as to attract the saving clause under Section 531(2)(a<\/span>)<\/span><\/a> BNSS<\/a>. Placing reliance upon earlier decisions in Tarsem Lal<\/span> v. Enforcement Directorate<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span>2<\/sup><\/a>, Yash Tuteja<\/span> v. Union of India<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span>3<\/sup><\/a>, and Kushal Kumar Agarwal<\/span> v. Enforcement Directorate<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span>4<\/sup><\/a>, the Bench reaffirmed that Special Courts under Prevention of Money-Laundering Act, 2002<\/a> (PMLA) are bound to follow the complaint procedure contemplated under the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973<\/a> (CrPC)<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

The above ratio makes it incumbent upon the trial court to afford the accused an opportunity of being heard at the stage of cognizance, even in cases instituted on an official complaint. Consequently, apart from private complaints, cognizance of an offence cannot be taken unless the accused is first heard by the court. The judgment, in effect, stalls the process of cognizance until the accused is summoned and granted a hearing. This means that, before the trial court can even apply its judicial mind to the materials collected during inquiries conducted by public authorities, an additional procedural step of hearing the accused becomes mandatory. Such a requirement is bound to cause further delay in criminal adjudication.<\/p>\n

The immediate fall out will be that not only in Nyaya Sanhita, 2023<\/a> (BNS) offences of the contempt of lawful authority of public servant, and offences against public justice (Chapters XIII and XIV) where official complaints are filed, but also in all offences under the Indian Forest Act, 1927<\/a>; Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957<\/a> (MMDR Act)<\/a><\/span>; Income-tax Act, 1961<\/a>; Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017<\/a>; Customs Act, 1962<\/a>; Companies Act, 2013<\/a>; Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940<\/a>; Factories Act, 1948<\/a><\/span>, etc there will be an additional ladder before taking cognizance, that is issuing of notice to the accused before it.<\/p>\n

This was never intended to be, nor could it have been in the contemplation of the legislature while incorporating the proviso to Section 223(1)<\/a> BNSS<\/a> mandating a pre-cognizance hearing. The very scheme of criminal procedure envisages a structured and differentiated process, depending upon the nature of the offence and the mode through which the criminal law is set in motion. The Code consciously distinguishes between cognizable and non-cognizable offences, summary, summons and warrant trials, cases instituted on private complaints, official complaints, and those arising out of FIRs. There cannot be a uniform procedural formula applicable to all categories of cases. To hold otherwise would amount to doing violence to the very architecture and scheme of the criminal procedure regime under the BNSS<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For instance, in an offences affecting the administration of justice under the Penal Code, 1860<\/a> (IPC<\/a>)<\/span> (now BNS), an official complaint is filed under Section 379<\/a> BNSS<\/a>. Section 382<\/a> BNSS<\/a> further provides that official complaints in such cases are to be treated as a police report under Section 193<\/a> BNSS<\/a><\/span>, and cognizance is accordingly taken on its basis, and the processes are issued under Section 227<\/a> BNSS<\/a>. Requirement of an examination of the accused before cognizance in such cases will run counter to the emphatic statutory provision.<\/p>\n

Difference between official and private complaint<\/p>\n

A private complaint remains essentially a contest between the complainant and the accused. The burden lies upon the complainant to adduce evidence during an inquiry sufficient to satisfy the Magistrate that a prima facie case exists, whereupon process may be issued under Section 227<\/a> BNSS<\/a> (corresponding to Section 204<\/a> CrPC<\/a>) against the accused persons. Procedure is somewhat different in official complaint cases. When the complainant is a public servant acting under colour of his office, the requirement of an examination of complainant and the witnesses, was dispensed with under Section 202<\/a> CrPC<\/a> and now under Section 223<\/a> BNSS<\/a>. The reason is that the law presumes a level of inherent credibility and official accountability in reports filed by public officers. There is also a presumption of fact under Section 119(e<\/span>)<\/span><\/a>, Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023<\/a>, that judicial and official acts have been regularly performed. Further, before an official complaint is filed, the accused is given an opportunity to explain his stand under the provisions of the Special Acts for example, Section 144<\/doclink>, Income-tax Act, 1963<\/doclink>; under Section 8(2)<\/a>, Prevention of Money-Laundering Act<\/a>, under which adjudicating authority issues a show-cause notice to the person whose property has been provisionally attached, requiring him to explain the source of income\/assets and to show cause why the property should not be confiscated. Therefore, formal official inquiry by examination of witnesses has been dispensed with in cases based on official complaints.<\/p>\n

Pre-cognizance hearing of the accused<\/p>\n

Under the new BNSS<\/a> framework, a major procedural safeguard has been added. Under Section 223(1)<\/a> BNSS<\/a><\/span>, a Magistrate cannot take cognizance without first giving the accused an opportunity to be heard. The old Code (CrPC<\/a>) did not contemplate hearing of the accused at the pre-cognizance stage and the accused could challenge the order taking cognizance before the High Court, under Section 482<\/a> CrPC<\/a> (now Section 528<\/a> BNSS<\/a>). He had no locus to be heard at the stage of enquiry contemplated under Sections 200<\/a>—202<\/a> CrPC<\/a>, and only after process was issued under Section 204, he could appear and challenge the summoning order before the revisional forum.<\/p>\n

So far, the trial court was concerned that the accused could be heard only after evidence before charge was complete and the stage was set for framing charge, when he had an opportunity to file a discharge petition under Section 245<\/a> CrPC<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n

There cannot be any objection to pre-cognizance hearing so far as private complaints are concerned in view of Proviso I to Section 223 which requires such a hearing before cognizance. This is for the reason that there is no prior scrutiny of private complaint by any public authority. However, to hold that requirement extends to official complaints as well, effectively obliterates the statutorily recognised procedural distinction between cases instituted on official complaints and those based on private complaints. It appears that this distinction, explicitly acknowledged in the Code, has not been adequately considered by the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n

Under Section 227<\/a> BNSS<\/a>, ordinarily a warrant is issued in warrant cases and a summons in summons cases. If the accused is required to be summoned at the pre-cognizance stage for a hearing, Section 227 risks being rendered otiose. Even in serious offences, the court would be constrained to summon the accused merely for the purpose of pre-cognizance hearing. This additional stage opens the door for potential litigants to delay proceedings by engaging courts in pre-cognizance hearings and subsequent challenges to orders passed therein. To require a pre-cognizance hearing even in an official complaint case will provide a procedural loophole to the accused persons facing serious criminal charges under Special Acts.<\/p>\n

When is cognizance taken in a complaint case?<\/p>\n

In cases instituted on a private complaint, cognizance is taken when the Magistrate applies his mind for proceeding under Section 200<\/a> CrPC<\/a> (now Section 223<\/a> BNSS<\/a>), such as by examining the complainant and witnesses on oath, thereby manifesting an intent to initiate judicial proceedings.<\/p>\n

If the Magistrate peruses the complaint but decides to send it to the police for investigation under Section 156(3)<\/a> CrPC<\/a> [now Section 175(3)<\/a> BNSS<\/a>], then it cannot be said that cognizance of the offence is taken. This is considered a “pre-cognizance” stage where the Magistrate is seeking more information before deciding to take judicial notice.<\/span>5<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

Unlike a private complaint, official complaints are not followed by any formal inquiry and are treated as police reports on the basis of which cognizance is taken. In a police case, cognizance is taken on submission of the charge-sheet and there is no provision for a pre-cognizance hearing of the accused.<\/p>\n

Thus, in a complaint case registered on a private complaint, cognizance is deemed to be taken once the Magistrate, on perusal of the allegation as disclosed in the complaint, decides to hold an enquiry. In official complaint cases when the Code does not contemplate formal inquiry, the cognizance perforce is taken on filing of the official complaint and not at any later stage. When an official complaint and police report are, in essence, one for the purpose of taking cognizance, to have a procedure of pre-cognizance hearing of the accused in the former and not in the case of the latter could not have been the intention of the legislature. Need for hearing at this stage becomes all the more superfluous for the reason that, unlike private complaints where witnesses are to be examined, in official complaint cases accused is summoned after cognizance without any further inquiry (as is the case in private complaints under Section 225<\/a> BNSS<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Despite its civil liberties appeal, Parvinder Singh’s<\/span><\/a>6<\/sup><\/a> ratio suffers from a profound conceptual oversight: it effectively obliterates the long-recognised statutory distinction between official complaints (filed by public servants in the discharge of their duties) and private complaints (filed by ordinary citizens). The Supreme Court appears to have ignored the distinction between the manner in which cognizance is taken in a police\/official complaint case, and that taken in a private complaint case. Hearing will not serve any purpose for the reason that the defence of the accused cannot be considered at the stage of cognizance, and a trial court cannot, effectively quash or decline cognizance when the official complaint discloses the offence. The introduction of a provision for hearing the accused at the pre-cognizance stage thus appears largely formalistic, because even after cognizance, the accused has a statutory remedy to move the High Court under Section 528<\/a> BNSS<\/a> for the quashing of cognizance. He can also move the trial court on processes being issued post-cognizance for his discharge. Despite available statutory remedies, to insert an additional procedural layer prior to the commencement of trial carries the potential to delay proceedings.<\/p>\n

Giving right of hearing before cognizance on a highly vetted, evidence-backed official complaint from a statutory body like the Enforcement Directorate (ED) or Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will result in treating such complaints with the same initial scepticism as an unverified private grievance. The practical fall out of this judgment on the administration of criminal justice will likely be severe, characterised by procedural bottlenecks and delayed enforcement. For economic and organised white-collar offences, speed is often of the essence. Imposing an additional, mandatory layer of litigation at the absolute threshold of prosecution grants sophisticated accused persons an immediate window to delay proceedings via protracted pre-cognizance litigation. Trial courts, already drowning under astronomical case backlogs, must now schedule, hear, and pass reasoned orders on the question of cognizance for every single official complaint on their dockets. By ignoring the explicit legislative exemptions granted to official complaints, the judgment risks paralysing regulatory enforcement and overwhelming an already strained trial court ecosystem under the weight of procedural idealism.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

*Former Judge, High Court of Jharkhand. Author can be reached at: gautamhcranchi@gmail.com.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

1.<\/a> 2026 SCC OnLine SC 903<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

2.<\/a> (2024) 7 SCC 61<\/span><\/a> : (2024) 3 SCC (Cri) 39.<\/p>\n

3.<\/a> (2024) 8 SCC 465<\/span><\/a> : (2024) 3 SCC (Cri) 731.<\/p>\n

4.<\/a> 2025 SCC OnLine SC 1221<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

5.<\/a> [See R.R. Chari<\/span> v. State of U.P.<\/span><\/a>, 1951 SCC 250<\/span><\/a>].<\/p>\n

6.<\/a> Parvinder Singh<\/span> v. Enforcement Directorate<\/span><\/a>, 2026 SCC OnLine SC 903<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Gautam Kumar Choudhary*<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67011,"featured_media":389197,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42503,1191],"tags":[108746,108743,108741,108744,108745,108742],"class_list":["post-389196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legal-analysis","category-op-ed","tag-cognizance-under-bnss-official-complaint-procedure","tag-official-complaint-vs-private-complaint-bnss","tag-parvinder-singh-directorate-of-enforcement-bnss-analysis","tag-pre-cognizance-hearing-criminal-procedure-bnss-analysis","tag-section-223-bnss-article-21-fair-trial","tag-section-223-bnss-pre-cognizance-hearing-official-complaints"],"yoast_head":"\nParvinder Singh and Section 223 BNSS | SCC Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Analysis of pre-cognizance hearings under Section 223 BNSS after Parvinder Singh.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2026\/07\/03\/parvinder-singh-section-223-bnss-analysis\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Erasure of Statutory Distinction: A Critical Review of Parvinder Singh v. 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