IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB & HARYANA 236 Lakhveer Singh State of Punjab and others CORAM : HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE Present :- Mr. Mr. Mandeep K. Saajan, Advocate Ms. Aiman J. Chishti, AAG, Punjab VINOD S. BHARDWAJ The respondents No.2 to 4 to register a case against the private respondents under Section 356(1) and 356(2) of the relevant provisions of Information Technology Act. 2. Status report dated 06.01.2026 by way of an affidavit of Ravinderpal Singh, PPS, Deputy Superintendent of Police, PBI (Special Crime) has already been filed on taken on record. 3. Relevant paras of the aforesaid status report reads as under: “5. joined both the parties in the enquiry proceedings. The petitioner also complaint/application be considered as his statement. From the other side, common statement of Satnam Singh son of Pritam Singh (respondent no.5), Gurpreet Singh (respondent no.6), Malkit Singh, Baljit Singh In the said common statement, they stated that on 01.11.2024, when Satnam Singh returned back to his house, he came to IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB & HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH CRM-M-59098 Date of decision: Lakhveer Singh VERSUS and others HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE VINOD S. BHARDWAJ r. Vikram K. Bishnoi, Advocate for Mr. Mandeep K. Saajan, Advocate for the petitioner Ms. Aiman J. Chishti, AAG, Punjab ***** VINOD S. BHARDWAJ, J. (Oral) The present petition has been filed respondents No.2 to 4 to register a case against the private respondents under Section 356(1) and 356(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 read with relevant provisions of Information Technology Act. Status report dated 06.01.2026 by way of an affidavit of Ravinderpal Singh, PPS, Deputy Superintendent of Police, PBI (Special Crime) has already been filed on behalf of the respondent/State. The same is taken on record. Relevant paras of the aforesaid status report reads as under: That Station House Officer, Cyber Crime, Ferozepur joined both the parties in the enquiry proceedings. The petitioner also got recorded his statement and stated that his complaint/application be considered as his statement. From the other side, common statement of Satnam Singh son of Pritam Singh (respondent no.5), Gurpreet Singh (respondent no.6), Malkit Singh, Baljit Singh (respondent no.8) was also recorded. In the said common statement, they stated that on 01.11.2024, when Satnam Singh returned back to his house, he came to IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB & HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH 59098-2025(O&M) Date of decision: 06.05.2026 ...Petitioner(s) ...Respondent(s) VINOD S. BHARDWAJ Vikram K. Bishnoi, Advocate for for the petitioner. Ms. Aiman J. Chishti, AAG, Punjab. has been filed for seeking directions to respondents No.2 to 4 to register a case against the private respondents under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 read with relevant provisions of Information Technology Act. Status report dated 06.01.2026 by way of an affidavit of Ravinderpal Singh, PPS, Deputy Superintendent of Police, PBI (Special behalf of the respondent/State. The same is Relevant paras of the aforesaid status report reads as under:- That Station House Officer, Cyber Crime, Ferozepur joined both the parties in the enquiry proceedings. The got recorded his statement and stated that his complaint/application be considered as his statement. From the other side, common statement of Satnam Singh son of Pritam Singh (respondent no.5), Gurpreet Singh (respondent no.6), (respondent no.8) was also recorded. In the said common statement, they stated that on 01.11.2024, when Satnam Singh returned back to his house, he came to SUMIT SINGH GUSAIN 2026.05.08 10:07 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document 2 236 CRM-M-59098-2025(O&M) know that his elder brother Malkit Singh had gone to play gamble and as such Satnam Singh gone to village to search him and found that his brother was playing gamble in front of the house of Sukhdev Singh Sarpanch and the petitioner allowed him to play gamble. When Satnam Singh resisted the said act of petitioner and, then the petitioner and Sukhdev Singh Sarpanch took Satnam Singh to the house of Sukhdev Singh Sarpanch and gave him beatings. Thereafter, Satnam Singh moved application to the police of PS:Arif Ke, where case FIR no.113 dated 09.11.2024 was registered. Thereafter, the petitioner also got registered one FIR no.116 dated 09.11.2024 PS: Arif ke against Satnam Singh. Thereafter the petitioner raised dharna in front of office of Deputy Commissioner, Ferozepur against the registration of false case and thereafter Satnam Singh gave his side before the media and uploaded the said video on his face book account "Satnam Singh Mahalam". Satnam Singh further stated that by uploading the said video, he has no intention to tarnish the image of petitioner. 6. That the petitioner also produced the screen shots of viral video including pen drive and panchayatnama of Gram Panchayat village Mahalam. Satnam Singh produced copy of FIR no.113/2024 Police Station Arif ke, District Ferozepur. 7. That after the enquiry, Station House Officer, Cyber Crime, Ferozepur submitted his report no.586 dated 17.01.2025 with the observation that both the parties due to their old grudge, have got registered cases against each other in Police Station Arif Ke. It was further found that Satnam Singh gave his side before the media i.e. Punjab New Channel and has uploaded the news item of "Desh Pradesh" qua the fight took place on account of gambling on his face book account "Satnam Singh Mahalam" in order to tarnish the image of petitioner. Thus, Station House Officer, Police Station Cyber Crime, Ferozepur recommended that the offences u/s 356(1), 356(2) BNS were made out and since the said offences are non SUMIT SINGH GUSAIN 2026.05.08 10:07 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document 3 236 CRM-M-59098-2025(O&M) cognizable and as such proceedings u/s 174 BNSS be initiated. Thus on the basis of the said report of Station House Officer, Police Station Cyber Crime, Ferozepur, GD no.006 dated 17.01.2025 was registered and the petitioner was directed to redress his grievances in the competent court of jurisdiction.” 4. It is evident from the perusal of the above that the application submitted by the petitioner has been duly looked into and after conducting an inquiry into the same, the SHO, Cyber Crime, Ferozepur concluded that the offences under Sections 356(1) and 356(2) BNS were made out in the facts and circumstances of the present case. Further, as the aforesaid offences were non-cognizable in nature, thus, initiation of proceedings under Section 174 of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 was recommended. 5. Accordingly, GD No.006 dated 17.01.2026 was registered against the private respondents. 6. Learned State Counsel has made submissions in tandem with the aforesaid status report. 7. Under the given circumstances, no further directions are required to be issued. Accordingly, the present petition is disposed of as having been rendered infructuous. Liberty is, however, granted to the petitioner to take recourse to the alternative remedies available to him in accordance with law, if so advised. 8. Pending application(s), if any, shall stand disposed of. (VINOD S. BHARDWAJ) 06.05.2026 JUDGE Sumit Gusain Whether speaking/reasoned : Yes/No Whether reportable : Yes/No SUMIT SINGH GUSAIN 2026.05.08 10:07 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document