In Re: Krishna Baipadithaya

On the morning of the 22nd March 1908, the house of the accused was burnt down. At 4. p.m. that day Prosecution Witness No. 4 reported to

the Potel-Defence Witness No. 9-that Prosecution Witness No. 1 had set fire to the house. The Potel reported this to the Police in Exhibit D and

asked them to come and investigate. Prosecution Witness No. 10, the Constable who received the report, went to the scene on the 23rd March,

and after questioning the accused, his wife and children, arrested Prosecution Witness No. 1. What the accused said was embodied in the

Constable''s Case Diary: Exhibit F. It was also made the subject of a separate statement, Exhibit E, which the accused signed. Prosecution

Witness No. 1 was tried for arson but was discharged. Proceedings were then taken against the accused, and the charge u/s 211, I.P.C. on which

he has been tried and convicted is that with intent to cause injury to P. W. No. 1 he instituted criminal proceedings before the Constable,

Prosecution Witness No. 10, charging Prosecution Witness No. 1, with having set fire to his house knowing that there was no just or lawful ground

for his action. Objection is taken that the statement made by the accused to the Constable was a statement made u/s 162, Cr.P.C., and that such a

statement is not a complaint or charge and cannot be made the basis of a prosecution for an offence u/s 211, I.P.C.;that the statement made by the

accused to the Constable though reduced to writing and signed by him, was a statement made u/s 162, Cr.P.C., and not u/s 154, Cr.P.C. There

can be no doubt on the facts of this case. In Chinna Ramanna Gowd v. Emperor ILR (1908) M 1506 it was held that a statement made u/s 162

Cr.P.C, cannot be made the basis of a prosecution for an offence u/s 211, I.P.C. When the accused made his statement the law had already been

set in motion against Prosecution Witness No. 1, and the proceedings cannot be said to have been instituted by the statement made by the accused

to the Constable. We set aside the conviction and acquit the accused. His bail bond is discharged.