The Supreme Court has quashed the FIR against YouTuber Elvish Yadav in a case alleging the use of snake venom in video shoots and involvement in drug-fuelled rave parties.
The court held that the FIR was legally unsustainable, but granted liberty to competent authorities to initiate separate proceedings under the Wildlife (Protection) Act.
The bench of justices MM Sundresh and N Kotiswar Singh confined its scrutiny to two specific questions — the applicability of provisions under the NDPS Act, 1985, and the validity of proceedings under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
The court found the case, as presently instituted, to be legally untenable on both counts, noting that the alleged substance recovered from a co-accused did not fall within the schedule of psychotropic substances under the law.
The court also underscored that Section 55 of the Wildlife Protection Act mandates that prosecution can be initiated only upon a complaint filed by a duly authorised officer, which was not the case in this instance.
The court clarified that its order does not amount to a clean chit, and granted liberty to the competent authority to initiate appropriate proceedings in accordance with law.
