Karan Singh vs State of Punjab and Others

Nirmaljit Kaur, J.—This is a petition u/s 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure directing Respondents No. 1 to 4 to comply with the procedure of investigation as envisaged in Section 154 Code of Criminal Procedure with the further prayer directing the Respondents to expedite the process of investigation so as to restrain Respondents No. 5 to 12 from causing any further harm to the Petitioner and his family member.

Section 156(3) of the Code of Criminal Procedure of Procedure, reads as under:

156(3) Any Magistrate empowered u/s 190 may order such an investigation as above mentioned.

The above provision shows that the Magistrate has the power to inquire into or try under the provisions of Chapter XII. u/s 156(3), the Magistrate is also empowered u/s 190 to order investigation and direct the registration of the FIR.

Hon''ble the Supreme Court in the case of Sakiri Vasu v. State of U.P. and Ors. reported as 2008 (1) RCR (Cri) 392, wherein, it is held that the Magistrate has very wide powers to of an FIR and direct registration to ensure a proper investigation, and for this purpose he can monitor the investigation to ensure that the investigation is done properly. Para 27 and 28 of the aforesaid judgment are reproduced hereunder:

As we have already observed above, the Magistrate has very wide powers to direct registration of an FIR and to ensure a proper investigation, and for this purpose he can monitor the investigation to ensure that the investigation is done properly (though he cannot investigate himself). The High Court should discourage the practice of filing a writ petition or petition u/s 482 Code of Criminal Procedure simply because a person has a grievance that his FIR has not been registered by the police, or after being registered, proper investigation has not been done by the police. For this grievance, the remedy lies under Sections 36 and 154(3) before the concerned police officers, and if that is of no avail, u/s 156(3) Code of Criminal Procedure before the Magistrate or by filing a criminal complaint u/s 200 Code of Criminal Procedure and not by filing a writ petition or a petition u/s 482 Code of Criminal Procedure.

It is true that alternative remedy is not an absolute bar to a writ petition, but it is equally well settled that if there is an alternative remedy the High Court should not ordinarily interfere.

In view of the above, the present petition is dismissed with liberty to file a criminal complaint or to avail of any other alternative remedy which may be available in accordance with law.