A proclamation is invalid unless it specifies the accused’s time and place of appearance.

The petitioners, accused in Dumri P.S. Case No. 65 of 2026, filed a petition under Section 528 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023.

Although they initially challenged both the order issuing non-bailable warrants and the subsequent proclamation order, they did not press the challenge to the warrant and confined their relief to the order dated 14 September 2026 issuing a proclamation under Section 82 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

They contended that the Magistrate had not specified a time and place for their appearance. The State and Opposite Party No. 2 argued that the petitioners could appear during court hours on any day after 30 days.

1. Whether a proclamation under Section 82 CrPC is sustainable when the issuing court has not specified in its order the time and place at which the accused must appear

2. Whether the proclamation order dated 14 September 2026 should be quashed insofar as it concerns the petitioners

Section 82 CrPC governs the issuance of a proclamation against an accused who is absconding or concealing themselves to evade arrest.

The court issuing the proclamation must specify the time and place for the accused’s appearance in the order directing issuance of the proclamation; the court’s general expectation that the accused appear after 30 days does not substitute for those particulars.

The petition was brought under Section 528 BNSS, 2023, invoking the High Court’s jurisdiction.

The Magistrate’s order did not specify either a time or a place for the petitioners’ appearance, a fact the Court treated as undisputed.

The respondents’ submission that the petitioners could appear during court hours on any day after 30 days did not cure that omission: the required particulars had to be fixed by the court in the order issuing the proclamation. The order was therefore legally unsustainable as against the petitioners.

It left the Magistrate free to pass a fresh order in accordance with law.

The challenge to the 28 July 2026 non-bailable warrant order was dismissed as not pressed, and the Criminal Miscellaneous Petition was allowed.