Budh Nath Mahato vs The Empress, on the prosecution of Ekram Hossein

This is a rule to consider an order of the Magistrate directing the Petitioner to be prosecuted under sec. 211, I. P. C., for making a false complaint. It seems that he appeared before the police-station and accused certain persons with having committed mischief by fire. The police, on investigation, reported this to be false. The Magistrate, on receipt of the police-report, called upon the Petitioner to show cause why he, should not be prosecuted. The Petitioner then appeared and complained of the unfairness of the police-investigation and asked the Magistrate to examine him and his witnesses with reference to the charge made. The Magistrate of the District, however, never examined the Petitioner but at once made over the case to a Magistrate with second-class powers for enquiry. On enquiry made, that Magistrate reported the case to be false and the District Magistrate has thereupon ordered the prosecution of the Petitioner. We are of opinion that the Petitioner has not been fairly treated in this matter. He appeared before the District Magistrate and asked for a judicial enquiry into the complaint that he had made to the police and has impugned the fairness and correctness of the investigation made. The District Magistrate never heard him but made over the enquiry to a Subordinate Magistrate of powers of the second-class, who had therefore no jurisdiction to deal with the offence charged which is triable only by a Court of Session. We cannot regard this as an enquiry ordered under sec. 202; for the Petitioner, if he be regarded as a complainant and in one view of the case he is certainly entitled to be so regarded--has never been examined by the District Magistrate and he can fairly say that if the District Magistrate who was alone competent to deal with this matter had heard him, he would not have ordered an enquiry under sec. 202 on the ground that he was not satisfied with the truth of the complaint so made. We can moreover find no part of the Code, except sec. 203, which would be at all applicable to the enquiry which has been held, and in the view that we take, we think that those proceedings cannot be properly regarded as held under sec. 203. We, therefore, set aside the order for the prosecution of the Petitioner and direct that the District Magistrate do either himself hold an enquiry into the complaint or make over the matter to a competent Magistrate who is empowered to make a committal to a Court of Session. The order for the prosecution of the Petitioner is set aside and the rule is made absolute.