Jajvinder Singh & Others vs State Of Uttarakhand And Others

N.S. Dhanik, J

The criminal misc. application has been filed under Section 482 Cr.P.C. to quash the impugned cognizance order dated 19.01.2021 and the entire

proceedings of Criminal Case No. 7083 of 2018, “State v. Jajvinder Singh & others†under Sections 420, 406 & 120-B of IPC, pending in the

court of learned Chief Judicial Magistrate Udham Singh Nagar.

Learned counsel for the applicants submits that on 09.12.2020, the coordinate Bench of this Court directed the concerned Magistrate to pass fresh

cognizance order as per law, but the concerned Magistrate has not passed the proper cognizance order. In order to buttress his argument, learned

counsel placed reliance on the judgment of Hon’ble Supreme Court in the Case of Pepsi Foods Ltd. & another v. Special Judicial Magistrate &

others; reported in (1998) 5 SCC 749. Para 28 of the said judgment is quoted herein below:

“28. Summoning of an accused in a criminal case is a serious matter. Criminal law cannot be set into motion as a matter of course. It is not that the

complainant has to bring only two witnesses to support his allegations in the complaint to have the criminal law set into motion. The order of the

Magistrate summoning the accused must reflect that he has applied his mind to the facts of the case and the law applicable thereto. He has to

examine the nature of allegations made in the complaint and the evidence both oral and documentary in support thereof and would that be sufficient

for the complainant to succeed in bringing charge home to the accused. It is not that the Magistrate is a silent spectator at the time of recording of

preliminary evidence before summoning of the accused. The Magistrate has to carefully scrutinize the evidence brought on record and may even

himself put questions to the complainant and his witnesses to elicit answers to find out the truthfulness of the allegations or otherwise and then

examine if any offence is prima facie committed by all or any of the accused.â€​

Accordingly, the present misc. application has been filed under Section 482 Cr.P.C. is disposed of. Impugned order dated 19.01.2021 passed by the

Chief Judicial Magistrate, Udham Singh Nagar in Criminal Case No. 7083 of 2018, “State v. Jajvinder Singh & others†is hereby set-aside qua the

applicants only.

The concerned Magistrate is directed to pass a fresh cognizance order as per law in the light of judgment of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the

case of Pepsi Foods Ltd. & another v. Special Judicial Magistrate & others (supra), within a period of three months from today.