Overview
- The Supreme Court set aside a Bombay High Court order that had directed police to register an FIR because the complainant had not used remedies available under the BNSS.
- The bench of Justices Sanjay Karol and Augustine George Masih held that Article 226 is an extraordinary, discretionary power and is not a first step to address non‑registration or poor investigation.
- The Court outlined the BNSS sequence for starting a case as reporting to the station house officer, then to the Superintendent of Police if refused, and finally to the magistrate, noting the BNSS is the 2023 criminal procedure law.
- In a separate hate‑speech matter, a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta ruled that failure by police to file FIRs on their own does not by itself prove contempt when no complaint or material was placed before them.
- The Court clarified that its 2022 and 2023 hate‑speech directions reminded authorities of existing duties and that any creation or change of offences lies with Parliament and the States.