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State of Uttar Pradesh & Anr. v. Dr. Brij Pal Singh & Anr.

Criminal Appeal · 2026 INSC 901Decided 20 Aug 2026
Criminal Appeal No. 2938 of 2025
Justice Sanjay Karol · Justice Nongmeikapam Kotiswar Singh

Background

Following a decoy operation and police raid on a hospital, a doctor was chargesheeted for illegal sex-determination. The Allahabad High Court quashed the case but flagged a nationwide conflict among High Courts on a basic question: can ordinary police investigate PCPNDT offences, or is that reserved for the law's own "Appropriate Authority"?

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that police are not the proper investigators for PCPNDT offences, only the government-notified "Appropriate Authority" can lead such investigations, with police assisting only when specifically asked (searches, tracing an accused, forensics). Though the Act calls these offences "cognizable," a separate section requires a formal complaint by the Appropriate Authority before any court can act, and a police chargesheet is legally different from a complaint. This mirrors how other special laws (organ transplantation, drugs) work. Ordinary crimes revealed by the same incident can still be investigated normally by police.

Lesson Learnt

Special laws protecting vulnerable people can set up their own dedicated enforcement machinery that displaces the normal police role: a prosecution under such a law is only valid if it came through the authority the law actually names, not just any police FIR.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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