Final Settlement Not Paid by Employer: What to Do

One of my clients recently had a case which I am explaining below and if you are stuck in such similar situation, here is what to do.

Note: Due to attorney-client privilege

Note: Because of attorney-client privilege, the papers in that matter are not reproduced here. No name, no station, no case number, no date. What follows is the general position of law for anyone who has been handed a written notice by the police asking them to come in and answer questions.

The short version

A notice to appear for questioning is not an arrest, and it is not a charge sheet. Go — but go prepared, and in most cases go with a lawyer. The one response that reliably makes things worse is staying home and hoping the letter forgets about you.

Key facts at a glance

• The notice is issued under Section 35(3) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 — the provision that replaced Section 41A of the old CrPC.
• It directs you to appear and answer questions. It is not a finding that you have done anything.
• If you appear as directed, Section 35(3) says you should not be arrested unless the officer records reasons for doing so.
• Article 20(3) of the Constitution protects you from being compelled to be a witness against yourself. You are not required to sign a confession.
• Your absence does not pause anything. The investigation keeps moving without you.

How does a 35(3) BNSS notice work, and why did I get one?

The BNSS came into force on 1 July 2024 and replaced the Code of Criminal Procedure. The old Section 41A is now Section 35(3). The idea behind it is simple: a police officer who needs to question someone does not have to arrest that person first. Where an arrest is not required, the officer issues a written notice, and the person turns up on a stated date and place.

You may be a suspect, a witness, or simply someone whose name or phone number surfaced during the investigation. Notices go out to all three, and the wording rarely tells you which one you are. That is worth knowing before you start panicking.

Notices are commonly served by registered post, sometimes by email, and increasingly over messaging apps. Verify before you travel. Call the police station on a number you looked up yourself, not the one in the message, and confirm that the officer named in it exists and the notice is genuine.

Do you actually have to go?

Yes. A 35(3) notice is a lawful direction, and not appearing is treated as non-cooperation. Once you fail to appear, the officer is on much stronger ground to arrest you under Section 35(1) — the arrest power the notice was meant to avoid using.

If the date genuinely does not work, write to the officer before the date passes. One paragraph, a reason, and a request for an alternative. Keep a copy and a delivery acknowledgement. What you should not do is let the date go by quietly and explain later.

Can you take a lawyer with you?

You can consult a lawyer, and you should. Whether the lawyer sits in the room during questioning depends on the officer and the station. Some allow counsel to remain present or available in the corridor, some do not. There is no uniform practice, and anyone who tells you it is guaranteed is telling you something they cannot deliver.

What is on firm ground: the law recognises the right of an arrested person to meet an advocate of their choice during interrogation, and courts have repeatedly pushed back when investigating agencies ignore procedural safeguards. For a person who is not under arrest, the position is looser. Take the lawyer. Ask them to wait.

Before you go — a short checklist

• Re-read the notice. Note the police station, the officer's name and designation, the date and time, and any section of law mentioned.
• Find out whether an FIR has been registered. If it has, you are entitled to a copy. Ask for it.
• Put together the documents that support your account — messages, emails, bank statements, invoices, agreements, call records.
• Write a two-page chronology for yourself. Dates down the left, what happened on the right. Take it with you; you do not have to hand it over.
• Tell your lawyer the full version, including the parts that are unflattering to you. They cannot protect you from what they do not know.
• Do not ask anyone to change their account, and do not do it yourself. That converts one allegation into two.

At the police station

Arrive on time. Ask for the officer named in the notice and give your name at the desk. If nobody has explained what the notice is about, ask directly.

You can answer questions. You can also say you do not know, or that you do not remember, or that you will check and revert. Those are real answers. Filling a gap with a guess is the thing that comes back to bite people eighteen months later.

Read anything before you sign it. If a document does not say what you agreed to, say so and do not sign. If you hand over your phone, laptop or documents, ask for a receipt or a seizure memo listing what was taken, and keep a copy. Never delete data before handing a device over — that is a separate problem, and a worse one than the original notice.

Note the time you entered and the time you left. It takes ten seconds and it is surprisingly useful later.

Will you be arrested at the police station?

If you attend in response to a 35(3) notice, the section says you should not be arrested unless the officer records reasons. That is real protection, but it is not immunity. If the officer forms the view that arrest is required — new material, a risk of tampering, a co-accused who has already been taken into custody — arrest can still follow, with the reasons written down.

So the notice lowers the risk. It does not eliminate it. That difference matters when you are deciding whether to walk in alone.

When anticipatory bail is worth thinking about

If the notice names a serious offence, if an FIR already lists you as an accused, or if the summons reads less like a request for information and more like the last step before custody, anticipatory bail before the Sessions Court or the High Court is the usual route. It has to be filed before you are arrested, which is why the notice period is not dead time — it is the window you have.

On a bare notice with no FIR and no allegation against you, there may be nothing to apply for, and filing hastily can create the impression you have something to hide. This is exactly the kind of call that depends on facts I do not have in front of me.

How long does this go on?

There is no fixed timeline and no one who can give you a date. Investigations run for months, sometimes longer. You may get three more notices, or you may hear nothing for a year. Silence is not a clean chit, and it is not a warning either. Keep the notice and every acknowledgement in one folder, physical or scanned.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does this notice create a criminal record?

No. Appearing for questioning is not an arrest and not a conviction. Nothing about your attendance, by itself, becomes a criminal record. Whether a police verification later discloses anything depends on what actually happened in the investigation — an FIR registered, a charge sheet filed, or an arrest made. Those are separate steps, and each has its own consequences.

The 48 hours that decide the shape of this

Most of what goes wrong in these matters goes wrong in the first two days, before anyone has read the notice properly. Three things help more than any argument at the station later:

• Find out what is actually alleged. Ask for the FIR copy. If there is no FIR, ask what the enquiry is about.
• Write your own chronology, in your own hand, while your memory is still clean. Do not tidy it up for anyone.
• Do not discuss the substance with co-workers, family friends, or anyone named in the matter. Informal conversations get repeated, and a repeated version is a version you no longer control.

What I would not do is start telling you which way this ends. On a bare notice with no FIR, the honest answer is that it may amount to nothing. On a notice that follows an FIR naming you for a serious offence, the honest answer is different. The notice itself does not tell us which one you have, and neither does a paragraph on a website.

What to send us

If you have received a notice and are deciding what to do next, send these three things and we will tell you where you stand before you travel anywhere:

• A scanned copy or clear photograph of the notice, complete — both sides, including the back page and any annexure.
• The date it was served on you, and the mode — registered post, email, WhatsApp, or hand delivery.
• A two-line note: what the matter appears to be about, and whether anyone has told you an FIR exists.

That is enough to start. You do not need to write out your whole story in the first email, and you do not need to decide anything before the station visit is properly understood. Write to me@sudhirrao.com or call +91 97295 06771. You can also use the form at /contact-us or book a slot at /book.

One last thing. If the notice is genuine and you have done nothing, the appearance itself is not the problem. Drifting into it unprepared is. Turn up, say what you know, refuse to guess at what you do not, and keep every piece of paper you are handed.

This article is general information about Indian law and is not legal advice on your own situation. Every notice, every investigation and every set of facts is different, and no one can tell you what to do on the strength of a web page.

Advocate Sudhir Rao, Supreme Court of India