Jai Chandra and Others vs State of U.P. and Beche Lal

B.A. Zaidi, J.—On an application filed by Bache LaL (opposite-party No. 2) and pursuant to the order of the Magistrate, Station House Officer, Mangalpur, District Kanpur Dehat registered a case (Crime No. C-10 / 2006) under Sections 147, 148, 452, 323, 504, 506, 324, 325 I.P.C. against the present applicants-accused.

The allegation against the applicants was that on 24.2.2006 at 6 O''Clock in the evening they came to this house in village Chirkhiri within jurisdiction of Police Station Mangalpur and beat him up with legs and fists, as also, with Lathies in consequence whereof, he sustained injures.

The Police investigated the case and submitted a final report in the court of Judicial Magistrate I, Kanpur Dehat, which did not find favour with the Magistrate, who ordered, issuance of summons against the applicants.

The applicants came to this Court in a Crl. Revision (No. 10506.2007) and Hon''ble Mr. Justice Ravindra Singh set-aside the summoning order, and sent back the case, to the Trial Magistrate, for passing an order afresh vide order dated 14.5.2007. When the matter came before the Magistrate, he reaffirmed his order, of summoning the accused This order is dated 28.6.2007, the English rendition of the relevant part whereof is as follows:

Heard.... Counsel for the applicants on the final report and protest petition. The Investigating Officer has filed a final report in Case Crime No. C-10/2006, under Sections 147, 148, 452, 323, 504, 506, 324, 325 I.P.C. Police Station Mangalpur district Kanpur Dehat, against which, a protest petition has been filed by the complainant, and by filing the objection, the complainant supported the incident and has prayed for the summoning of the accused. The complainant through the protest petition has supported the version of the occurrence. It appears, therefore, justifiable to summon the accused Jai Chandra, Rajesh Kumar, Asharfi Lal, Bablu and Ram Sahehi under Sections 147, 148, 452, 323, 504, 506, 324, 325 I.P.C. rejecting the final report.

Order

The final report, No. 14/06 dated 28.9.2006, is rejected. Accused Jai Chandra, Rajesh Kumar, Asharfi Lal, Bablu and Ram Sahehi are summoned under Sections 147, 148, 452, 323, 504, 506, 324, 325 I.P.C.

That is how the applicants have come to this Court u/s 482 Cr.P.C., praying, that proceedings in Crl. Case No. 62/2007 under Sections 147, 148, 452, 323, 504, 506, 324, 325 I.P.C. in Case Crime No. C-10/06 Police Station Mangalpur district Kanpur Dehat be quashed.

Heard Sri L.M. Singh, Counsel for the applicants and Sri S.D. Tripathi, Addl. Government Advocate for the State.

The argument advanced, from the side of five applicants, is, that the Magistrate has not analysed the contents of the case diary, and has not given proper reasons, to the conclusion, that the applicants should be summoned in this case.

The decision of the Magistrate at this stage, (summoning) is predominately subjective, in character. The law stipulates, giving of reasons for arriving at a conclusion, but there are various stages in the criminal procedure, where giving of detailed reasons, will be counter-productive, and render the order illegal. At the stage of summoning, the Magistrate is not supposed to examine in details the statements recorded by the Investigating Officer, u/s 161 Cr.P.C. or any other evidence available in the case diary. He has only to see, and assess the same, and may mention some semblance of a reason, but he is not supposed to make a critical analysis of the case diary. At this stage, the Magistrate is not supposed to pass a detailed order, because, that would be prejudging the issues.

The matter is also to be looked at, from the viewpoint, that later on, at the stage of charge, it will be open to the accused to show that there is no material available against them, on the basis whereof, the charge could be framed, it must be mentioned that no case law of Supreme Court in this case was cited by the counsel before us. Reference was made only to the case of Mohammad Yusuf and Ors. v. State of U.P. and Anr. (LVIII) 2007 ACC 971 which is based on the premises that proper investigation was not conducted, and is dependant on its own particular facts, and is consequently not of any relevance, in this case.

The result is that, the order of the Magistrate should be sustained, and the Application u/s 482 Cr.P.C. is accordingly dismissed.