Satender Kumar Antil Vs Central Bureau of Investigation And Anr. (Supreme Court of India)
Supreme Court Rejects Electronic Service of Arrest Notices
Supreme Court of India, in a significant ruling in the case of Satender Kumar Antil v. Central Bureau of Investigation, has dismissed an application by the State of Haryana seeking to allow the service of notices under Section 35 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023, through electronic means such as WhatsApp. The court’s decision upholds its earlier directive from January 21, 2025, which mandated that all notices to an accused must be served in person, as prescribed by law, and that electronic communication is not a valid substitute.
The State of Haryana argued that using electronic communication for notices under Section 35 of the BNSS, which requires a person to join an investigation without facing immediate arrest, would save state resources and prevent individuals from evading service. The state’s counsel referenced other provisions within the BNSS, such as Sections 64 and 71, which permit the electronic service of court-issued summons. They contended that since the BNSS embraces technology for judicial proceedings, the same should apply to notices from investigating agencies. The state also highlighted that previous judicial precedents, specifically the Delhi High Court’s rulings in Rakesh Kumar v. Vijayanta Arya and Amandeep Singh Johar v. State (NCT Delhi), which were upheld by the Supreme Court in the 2022 Satender Kumar Antil judgment, were established under the old Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), 1973, and should not be binding under the new BNSS, 2023.
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