Overview
- Justices M.M. Sundresh and N. Kotiswar Singh set aside the FIR and all subsequent proceedings, overturning the Allahabad High Court’s refusal to quash.
- The court noted the recovered liquid from a co-accused was not a scheduled substance under the NDPS Act and that nothing was recovered from Yadav himself.
- Proceedings under the Wildlife (Protection) Act failed because Section 55 requires a complaint by a duly authorised officer, not by the NGO-linked complainant recorded in this case.
- The bench recorded that IPC offences were tethered to an earlier Gurugram FIR that ended with a closure report, undercutting independent IPC charges.
- The order expressly withholds a clean chit, granting liberty to competent authorities to refile a proper wildlife complaint in accordance with law.