The Jharkhand High Court has allowed Chief Minister Hemant Soren exemption from personal appearance in a case filed under Section 174 of the Indian Penal Code stating that it is a minor offence.

The Court was considering a Petition seeking quashing of an order passed by Special J.M.F.C. MP/ MLA Court whereby and where under the Application filed by the Petitioner under Section 205 of the Code of Criminal Procedure seeking exemption from the personal appearance, was rejected.

The Bench of Justice Anil Kumar Choudhary held, "Having heard the rival submissions made at the Bar and considering the fact that the petitioner is the Hon’ble Chief Minister of the State of Jharkhand and is obviously having a number of pressing engagements in connection with the office he is holding as well as the fact that the offence involved in this case is a minor offence punishable under Section 174 of the Indian Penal Code, the order dated 23.11.2024 passed by the learned Special J.M.F.C. MP/MLA Court, Ranchi in MCA No.4921 of 2024 in connection with MP/MLA Case No.02 of 2024 arising out of Complaint Case No.3952 of 2024 is modified and the petitioner is directed to appear before the Special J.M.F.C. MP/MLA Court, Ranchi on 06th of December, 2025 at 2:00 PM and his personal appearance on all the future dates to which the MP/MLA Case No.02 of 2024 arising out of Complaint Case No.3952 of 2024 will be fixed, is dispensed with subject to the petitioner being represented by a lawyer duly instructed to effectively take part in the proceedings of the case on behalf of the petitioner and if the learned trial court feels that there is any necessity for the personal appearance of the petitioner for any specific unavoidable purpose, then the learned trial court may pass specific order for personal appearance of the petitioner either physically or through video conferencing."

The Petitioner was represented by Senior Advocate Arunabh Choudhary, while the Respondent was represented by Advocate Amit Kumar Das.

Senior Counsel for the Petitioner submitted that since the offence punishable under Section 174 of the Indian Penal Code is a minor offence, having provision of maximum punishment of one month only and is a summons case and is also a bailable offence, hence, the personal appearance of the petitioner, who is the Chief Minister of the State of Jharkhand ought to have been dispensed with by the Special J.M.F.C. MP/MLA Court and having not done so, the Special J.M.F.C. MP/MLA Court has committed a grave illegality.

The Counsel for the Opposite Party submitted that the Opposite Party has no objection to the exemption of the Petitioner from his personal appearance except on the first date of appearance to furnish his bail bond and if the learned trial court feels at any stage of the trial that there is any necessity for the personal appearance of the petitioner for any specific unavoidable purpose; then on that date the learned trial court may specifically order for personal appearance of the petitioner.

The Petition was accordingly disposed of.

Cause Title: Hemant Soren v. Directorate of Enforcement 2025:JHHC:36124

Appearances:

Petitioner- Senior Advocate Arunabh Choudhary, Advocate Deepankar

Respondent- Advocates Amit Kumar Das, Zoheb Hossain, Varun Girdhar and Manmohit Bhalla

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Jharkhand High CourtJustice Anil Kumar Choudhary

Sheetal Joon