HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD CRIMINAL MISC. WRIT PETITION No. - 13002 of 2026 Court No. - 46 HON'BLE RAJEEV MISRA, J. HON'BLE DR. AJAY KUMAR-II, J. 1. Heard Mr. P.C. Srivastava, learned Senior Counsel assisted by Mr. Abhishek Tandon, the learned counsel for petitioner and Mr. Manish Goyal, the learned Additional Advocate General, assisted by Mr. Sanjay Singh, the learned A.G.A. 1st representing State-respondents No.1 to 7. 2. Perused the record. 3. Petitioner Mohd. Iqbal Alias Iqbal Bala has approached this Court by means of present writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India with the following prayer: "A) Issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of mandamus directing the Respondents not to lodge/register any further First Information Report(s) against the Petitioner without conducting preliminary enquiry in respect of the offence(s) alleged to have been committed by the Petitioner; AND B) Issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of mandamus directing the Respondents/Investigating Officer to record the statement(s) of the Petitioner, if required, through video conferencing, prior to lodging/registering any First Information Report against the Petitioner; AND C) Issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of mandamus directing the Respondents not to add/make the Petitioner as an accused in any pending First Information Report(s) and/or any new First Information Report(s) lodged hereinafter, without the leave of this Hon'ble Court; AND/OR D) Issue any other suitable writ, order or direction as this Hon'ble Court may deem fit and proper in the facts and circumstances of the instant matter. Versus Counsel for Petitioner(s) : Abhishek Tandon, Vivek Kumar Srivastava Counsel for Respondent(s) : G.A. Mohd. Iqbal Alias Iqbal Bala .....Petitioner(s) State Of U.P. And 6 Others .....Respondent(s) E) Award cost of this petition in favour of the Petitioner." 4. Section 173 Bhartiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita for short "B.N.S.S." is relevant for the controversy in hand. Accordingly, the same is reproduced herein below:- "Sub-section (3) of Section 173 clearly provides that in case the offence complaint is punishable to the sentence for three years but less than seven years, then in such a case officer concerned may hold a preliminary inquiry but after obtaining permission from an officer concerned but not below the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police. 5. The language of the statute does not contain any non-obstante clause, therefore it is the discretion of the Police Officer to hold or not to hold a preliminary inquiry before registering an FIR. In this state of affair, no mandamus as prayed for can be issued by this Court directing the respondents to mandatorily hold an inquiry before registering an FIR. 6. However, since the statute itself has provided a safeguard before an FIR is lodged therefore in case any matter comes to the State-respondents regarding lodging of the F.I.R. and the offence complained of is punishable with a sentence upto seven years or less, then in such a circumstance, the State- respondents shall endeavour to first comply with the provisions of Section 173 (3) BNSS before registering the F.I.R. if the situation so demands. 7. With the aforesaid directions, the writ petition stands finally disposed of. September 29, 2026 Neeraj CRLP No. 13002 of 2026 2 (Dr. Ajay Kumar-II,J.) (Rajeev Misra,J.) Digitally signed by :- NEERAJ KUMAR SINGH High Court of Judicature at Allahabad