Parvinder Singh Vs Directorate of Enforcement (Supreme Court of India)
The Supreme Court considered an appeal against the Uttarakhand High Court judgment dated 19.05.2025 concerning the applicability of the first proviso to Section 223(1) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (BNSS) to a prosecution complaint under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) that had been filed before the BNSS came into force. An ECIR had been registered on 24.07.2023, the appellant was arrested on 27.04.2024, and the Enforcement Directorate filed a prosecution complaint under Sections 44 and 45 of the PMLA on 24.06.2024. The Special Court registered the complaint and, after the BNSS came into force on 01.07.2024, took cognizance on 02.07.2024 without giving the appellant an opportunity of hearing. The appellant’s recall application was dismissed by the Special Court, which also framed charges. The High Court held that Section 223 of the BNSS was inapplicable by virtue of Section 531(2)(a) of the BNSS and dismissed the challenge to the cognizance order while remanding the matter only on the issue of framing of charges.
Before the Supreme Court, the appellant contended that Sections 223 to 228 of the BNSS, corresponding to Sections 200 to 205 of the CrPC, applied to complaints under the PMLA since there was no inconsistency between the two enactments. It was argued that the first proviso to Section 223(1) conferred a right to be heard before cognizance and that the direction merely to register the complaint did not amount to an “inquiry” so as to attract the saving provision under Section 531(2)(a) of the BNSS. The respondent contended that the PMLA was a self-contained statute, that the BNSS provisions governing complaint cases were inapplicable, that the complaint had been filed before commencement of the BNSS and that an inquiry had already commenced before 01.07.2024. It also argued that no prejudice had been shown due to the absence of a hearing.
