Special leave petition dismissed; Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 offences treated as PMLA scheduled offences despite unchanged Schedule

SC dismissed the special leave petition, refusing to interfere with the HC's order which held that offences under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 that correspond to offences listed in the PMLA Schedule as erstwhile IPC provisions are to be treated as scheduled offences for PMLA purposes. The court agreed that the absence of textual amendment to the Schedule does not bar prosecution so long as the new law covers the same field of criminality, and declined relief at this stage.

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"We are not inclined to interfere with the impugned judgment and order of the High Court, at this stage; hence, the special leave petition is dismissed." The Court declined to disturb the High Court's decision and dismissed the special leave petition limited to the legal question previously argued and decided by the High Court. The petitioner is permitted to seek interim relief anew: "it shall be open to the petitioner to apply for bail afresh before the trial court." Any such bail application "shall be decided on its own merits." All pending applications relating to the matter are disposed of. The ruling is confined to the scope of the challenge presented and does not preclude trial-court reconsideration of bail on a fresh, merits-based application.

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