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Judgment
Mr. Lalit Sharma, Advocate, present for the petitioner.
Mr. Sudhir Kumar Chaudhary, Deputy Advocate General, present for the State/respondent Nos. 1 & 2.
The First Information Report has been lodged by respondent no. 3 against unknown persons, which has been registered as FIR No. 94 of 2017, under Section 26 of the Indian Forest Act, at Police Station-Kelakhera, District-Udham Singh Nagar. Thereafter, during the investigation, the name of the petitioner has emerged as one of the offenders in the aforesaid offence. Apprehending his arrest, the petitioner has approached this Court for relief.
The maximum punishment in the above offence is two years. However, under Section 65A of the Indian Forest Act, offence punishable under Section 26 of the Indian Forest Act is a non-bailable offence.
Nevertheless, the matter is covered by the Arnesh Kumar Vs. State of Bihar & another, reported in (2014) 8 SCC 273, where in case the maximum punishment is less than seven years, the accused is not liable to be arrested, unless there is incriminating material against the accused.
The writ petition is therefore stands disposed with the direction to the police authorities to proceed with the investigation in accordance with law, subject to the full cooperation of the petitioner in the investigation, but as far as the arrest of the petitioner is concerned the same may be done only under the parameters as framed under Section 41 and Section 41A of Cr.P.C. as well as following the guidelines given by the Hon''ble Apex Court in the case of Arnesh Kumar Vs. State of Bihar & another, reported in (2014) 8 SCC 273.
It is further made clear that this order shall remain operative till the filing of charge sheet, in case of that event.