HC rules Maha police notice to state tobacco firms illegal

Bengaluru: The Karnataka High Court has held that notices issued by Maharashtra’s Vadgaon police summoning representatives of tobacco product manufacturers in Karnataka for questioning were legally unsustainable and constitutionally impermissible.

The court observed that police cannot invoke Section 179 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) to summon individuals who are outside the territorial jurisdiction of the police station concerned to appear in Vadgaon for questioning.

The case arose from an incident in August 2025, when Maharashtra police intercepted a lorry transporting prohibited tobacco products on the Bengaluru-Pune highway and registered a case against those allegedly involved. Although the Karnataka-based companies were not named in the FIR, a team of five to six personnel from Vadgaon police station visited the office of Shiv Enterprises and others in Tumakuru. The police questioned the establishments and issued notices to their partners, recording their statements. Challenging the action, the companies approached the Karnataka High Court, questioning the legality of the Maharashtra police operation and the notices. Justice Suraj Govindaraj, who heard the petitions, partly allowed the challenge.

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The Hans India