Youtuber Elvish Yadav being produced in a courtroom in Gurugram. File image
| Photo Credit: PTI
The Supreme Court on Thursday (March 19, 2026) quashed prison proceedings launched by Uttar Pradesh in opposition to YouTuber Elvish Yadav in a narcotics and wildlife safety legislation case involving snake venom as unsustainable in law.
A Bench of Justices M.M. Sundresh and N. Kotiswar Singh discovered that the alleged “psychotropic substance” recovered from a co-accused within the case was not listed within the Schedule of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.
The courtroom additional discovered that the criticism filed within the case underneath the Wildlife Protection Act was not by an authorised officer. Section 55 of the Act mandates {that a} courtroom needn’t take cognisance of a criticism alleging an offence except it was filed by authorised officers who embrace the director of wildlife preservation; member-secretary of the central zoo authority; member-secretary of tiger conservation authority; director of a tiger reserve; a Wild Life Crime Control Bureau officer, Chief Wildlife Warden.
The courtroom was knowledgeable by senior advocate Mukta Gupta, showing for Mr. Yadav, that the criticism was filed by a person related to a non-public animal safety organisation.
It mentioned that offences underneath the Indian Penal Code (IPC) invoked within the FIR in opposition to Mr. Yadav had been based mostly on an earlier FIR registered in Gurugram, through which a closure report had been filed.
The courtroom, nevertheless, clarified that it was not giving Mr. Yadav a “clean chit”. The authority involved was at liberty to proceed in opposition to him by following the right process underneath the wildlife statute.
Justice Sundresh mentioned “if there is any procedural violation, it cannot be assumed the appellant has been given a clean chit”.
Ms. Gupta mentioned her shopper would even be free to hunt authorized treatment within the eventuality of a recent criticism being filed.
The case in opposition to Mr. Yadav was registered on November 22, 2023, and he was arrested on March 17, 2024, for the alleged use of snake venom at a rave get together in Noida, Uttar Pradesh.
The controversial YouTuber had moved the apex courtroom in opposition to an Allahabad High Court order refusing him reduction by quashing the chargesheet within the case. The chargesheet alleged the consumption of snake venom as a leisure drug at “rave” events by individuals, together with foreigners.
On August 6 final yr, the apex courtroom stayed proceedings within the trial courtroom in opposition to Mr. Yadav within the case.
Published – March 19, 2026 02:29 pm IST
