Mohanbhai Chhotubhai Patel & 2 vs State Of Gujarat & on 13 November, 2014

[Cites 42, Cited by 0]

Gujarat High Court

Mohanbhai Chhotubhai Patel & 2 vs State Of Gujarat & on 13 November, 2014

Bench: J.B.Pardiwala

       R/CR.MA/15382/2012                                                       CAV JUDGMENT




              IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD

      CRIMINAL MISC.APPLICATION (FOR QUASHING & SET ASIDE
                              FIR/ORDER) NO. 15382 of 2012

FOR APPROVAL AND SIGNATURE:


HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE J.B.PARDIWALA

================================================================

1     Whether Reporters of Local Papers may be allowed to see the judgment ?

2     To be referred to the Reporter or not ?

3     Whether their Lordships wish to see the fair copy of the judgment ?

4     Whether this case involves a substantial question of law as to the interpretation of the
      Constitution of India, 1950 or any order made thereunder ?

5     Whether it is to be circulated to the civil judge ?


================================================================
               MOHANBHAI CHHOTUBHAI PATEL & 2....Applicant(s)
                                Versus
                  STATE OF GUJARAT & 1....Respondent(s)
================================================================
Appearance:
MR ZUBIN F BHARDA, ADVOCATE for the Applicant(s) No. 1 - 3
NOTICE SERVED for the Respondent(s) No. 2
MR. A.N. SHAH, ADDITIONAL PUBLIC PROSECUTOR for the Respondent(s) No. 1
================================================================

            CORAM: HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE J.B.PARDIWALA

                                         Date :13/11/2014


                                         CAV JUDGMENT

Rule. Mr.A.N.Shah, the learned APP waives service of rule for and on behalf of the respondent No.1State of Gujarat. The respondent no.2, original complainant although served with the notice for final disposal, yet has not thought fit to appear before this Court either in person or through an advocate.

Page 1 of 34 R/CR.MA/15382/2012 CAV JUDGMENT

2. By this application under Sec. 482 of the Criminal Procedure Code, the petitioners - original accused nos.2, 3 and 4 calls in question the legality and validity of the order dated 15th February, 2011 passed by the learned Judicial Magistrate, First Class, Chikhli, passed below Exh.1 in Criminal Misc. Application No.2/2010 by which the learned Magistrate took cognizance upon the private complaint lodged by the respondent no.2 herein and ordered issue of process against the petitioners herein for the offence punishable under Sections 420, 423, 465, 467, 468, 471,120B r/w sec. 114 of the Indian Penal Code. It appears that while issuing process, the learned Magistrate simultaneously also ordered to issue nonbailable warrant against the petitioners herein. The impugned order passed by the learned Magistrate ultimately culminated in Criminal Case No.37/2011.

3. Brief facts giving rise to this application may be summarized as under: 3.1 The respondent no.2 herein lodged a private complaint in the Court of the JMFC, Chikhli for the offence punishable under sections 120B, 420, 423, 465, 467, 468, 471 r/w sec. 114 of IPC against the petitioners herein and one another person by name Suryakant Dhirubhai Desai (Original accused no.1) inter alia alleging that on 7/3/1995 the accused no.1 shown in the complaint (not before this Court) by misleading the complainant and his family members got an irrevocable power of attorney executed in his favour in respect to agricultural land bearing Account no.113, Block No.328 admeasuring 02023 guntha situated at the village Hond, Taluka Chikhli, District Navsari. It is the case of the complainant that although he himself and his family members did execute the irrevocable power of attorney in favour of accused no.1, yet being illiterate persons they were fraudulently lured by the accused no.1 to do so. It is also alleged that there was a fraudulent representation at the end of the accused No.1 and relying on such fraudulent representation the complainant and his family members had executed irrevocable power of attorney in favour of the original accused no.1. It is stated in the complaint that some of the executants of the power of attorney are absolutely illiterate and are unable to even put their Page 2 of 34 R/CR.MA/15382/2012 CAV JUDGMENT signatures. It is also alleged that although the disputed irrevocable power of attorney has been notarized, yet the complainant nor any of his family members had remained present before the Notary Public. According to the complainant, his brother, namely, Dhirubhai Balubhai Rathod passed away on 1/10/2008 and his mother, namely, Mangiben Balubhai had passed away on 3/5/2003. Since both these coowners had passed away, the power, so far as dead persons were concerned, would automatically come to an end. The complainant has further alleged that the accused no.1, on the strength of such irrevocable power of attorney dated 7/3/1995 transferred the agricultural land in dispute in favour of the petitioner no.1 herein by way of a registered Sale Deed. According to the complainant, the petitioner nos.2 and 3 herein are the attesting witnesses who have put their signatures in the registered sale deed identifying the executants of the documents. The complainant has further stated that the sale consideration paid by the petitioner no.1 herein in favour of the original accused no.1 i.e. holder of the irrevocable power of attorney was not paid to him and the entire amount was pocketed fraudulently by the power of attorney holder. Thus, according to the respondent no.2 the petitioners herein and the original accused no.1 hatched a criminal conspiracy to defraud him and his family members and thereby the agricultural land of their ownership has been usurped.

4. On such complaint being lodged by the respondent no.2 herein the learned JMFC, Chikhli recorded the verification of the complainant on oath and thereafter postponed the issue of process as the learned Magistrate thought fit to initiate a Magisterial inquiry under Sec. 202 of Cr.P.C. On completion of the Magisterial inquiry under sec. 202 of Cr.P.C., the learned Magistrate thereafter vide order dated 15/3/2011 ordered issue of process under Sec. 204 of Cr.P.C., for the offence under Sections 420, 423, 465, 467, 468, 471, 120B r/w sec. 114 of IPC. While ordering issue of process, the learned Magistrate also thought fit to simultaneously pass an order of issue of nonbailable warrant against the accused persons named in the compliant.

5. Mr. Bharda, the learned advocate appearing on behalf of the petitioner Page 3 of 34 R/CR.MA/15382/2012 CAV JUDGMENT vehemently submitted that even if the entire case of the complainant is accepted as true, no case is madeout against the petitioners herein. Mr. Bharda submits that none of the ingredients to constitute the offence of cheating and forgery are disclosed on plain reading of the complaint. According to Mr.Bharda, the learned Magistrate ought not to have ordered issue of process mechanically without application of mind.

5.1 Mr.Bharda further submitted that the complainant has not disputed execution of the power of attorney in favour of the original accused no.1 way back in the year 1995. However, on account of some dispute between the complainant and the holder of the power of attorney now after a period of almost 14 years has come forward with a case that the same was obtained by the original accused no.1 by practicing fraud. Mr.Bharda submitted that at no point of time during the interregnum period the complainant or his family members thought fit to revoke the irrevocable power of attorney. Mr.Bharda submits that the land in question was a new tenure land and was also a fragment under the provisions of the Bombay Prevention of Fragmentation and Holdings Act. It is only after getting the land converted to old tenure and after obtaining necessary permission of the authority concerned under the provisions of the Bombay Prevention of Fragmentation and Holdings Act that the land came to be transferred in favour of the petitioner no.1 for a sale consideration of Rs.40,000/ and the only role attributed to the petitioner nos.2 and 3 is that they had put their signatures on the disputed sale deed as the attesting witnesses. Mr. Bharda submits that knowing fully well that no case could be madeout against the petitioners herein, the complainant very craftily has alleged criminal conspiracy.

5.2 Mr. Bharda lastly submitted that the order of issue of process is nothing but an abuse of process of law and deserves to be quashed so far as the petitioners are concerned.

6. The learned APP appearing on behalf of the respondent no.1 State of Page 4 of 34 R/CR.MA/15382/2012 CAV JUDGMENT Gujarat, submitted that the learned Magistrate after inquiry under Sec. 202 of Cr.P.C., has thought fit to issue process by assigning reasons for the same. The learned APP would submit that the scope of the inquiry under Sec. 202 Cr.P.C. is extremely limited - limited only to the ascertainment of the truth or falsehood of the allegations made in the complaint. The learned APP would submit that at the stage of ordering issue of process under Sec. 204 of Cr.P.C. on conclusion of the Magisterial inquiry under sec. 202 of the Code, the Magistrate need not meticulously examine the materials on record and once issues process after assigning reasons, then this Court should not examine in exercise of its inherent powers under Sec. 482 of the Code, whether such reasons are good or bad, sufficient or insufficient. The learned APP in support of his submissions has placed reliance on the decision of the Supreme Court in the case of Nagawwa vs. Veeranna Shivalingappa Konjalgi reported in AIR 1976 SC 1947.

7. Having heard the learned counsel appearing for the parties and having gone through the materials on record, the only question that falls for my consideration in this application is whether the learned Magistrate committed any error in passing the impugned order.

8. It is now well settled that issuance of process should not be mechanical nor should be made an instrument of oppression for needless harassment . The responsibility and duties of the court concerned, lies in findingout whether the accused would be legally responsible for the offence charged with. The Court at that stage should be circumspect and judicious in exercising discretion and should take all the relevant facts and circumstances into consideration, lest it would be an instrument in the hands of the private complainant as vendetta to harass a person needlessly or for any other oblique purpose.

9. In Chandra Dev Singh Vs. Prokash Chandra Bose - AIR 1963 SC 1430, the Supreme Court had after fully considering the matter observed as follows: "The courts have also pointedout in these cases that what the Magistrate has to see is whether there is evidence in support of the Page 5 of 34 R/CR.MA/15382/2012 CAV JUDGMENT allegations of a complainant and not whether the evidence is sufficient to warrant a conviction. The learned Judges in some of these cases have been at pains to observe that an inquiry under Sec.202 is not to be likened to a trial which can only take place after process is issued, and that there can be only one trial. No doubt as stated in subsection1 of Sec. 202 itself, the object of the inquiry is to ascertain the truth or falsehood of the complaint, but the Magistrate making the inquiry has to do this only with reference to the intrinsic quality of the statement made before him at the inquiry which would naturally mean a complaint itself, the statements on oath made by the complainant and the statements made before him by persons examined at the instance of a complainant."

10. Indicating the scope, ambit of Sec. 202 of the Code of Criminal Procedure the Supreme Court in Vadilal Panchel vs. Dattatreya Dulaji -AIR 1960 SC 1113 observed as follows: -

"Sec.202 says that the Magistrate may, if he thinks fit, for reasons to be recorded in writing, postponed the issue of process for compelling the attendance of a person complained against and direct an inquiry for the purpose of ascertaining the truth or falsehood of the complaint ; in other words, the scope of an inquiry under the section is limited to findingout the truth or falsehood of the complaint in order to determine question of the issue of process. The inquiry is for the purpose of ascertaining the truth or falsehood of the complaint, i.e., for ascertaining whether there is evidence in support of the complaint so as to justify the issue of process and commencement of proceedings against the person concerned. The section does not say that a regular trial for adjudging the guilt or otherwise of the person complained against should take place at that stage for the person complained against can be legally called upon to answer the accusation made against him only when a process is issued and had put on trial."

11. It would thus be clear from the two decisions of the Supreme Court referred to above that the scope of the inquiry under Sec. 202 of the Cr.P.C. is extremely limited -limited only to the ascertaining of the truth or falsehood of the allegations made in the complaint - (1) on the materials placed by the complainant before the Court (2) for the limited purpose of findingout whether a prima facie case for issue of process has been madeout and (3) for deciding the question purely from the point of view of the complainant without at all Page 6 of 34 R/CR.MA/15382/2012 CAV JUDGMENT adverting to any defence that the accused may have. In fact, it is well settled that in the proceedings under Sec. 202 the accused has got absolutely no locus standi and is not entitled to be heard on the question whether the process should be issued against him or not.

12. The Supreme Court in the case of Nagawwa (Supra.) has observed that in coming to a decision as to whether a process should be issued the Magistrate can take into consideration the inherent improbabilities appearing on the face of the complaint or in the evidence led by the complainant in support of the allegations but there appears to be a thin line of demarcation between the probability of the conviction of the accused and establishment of prima facie case against him. The Supreme Court has further observed that the Magistrate has been given an undoubted discretion in the matter and the discretion has to be judiciously exercised by him. Once the Magistrate has exercised his discretion, the Supreme Court observed that it is not for the High Court, or even for the Supreme Court, to substitute its own discretion for that of the Magistrate or to examine the case on merits with a view to findout whether or not the allegations in the complaint, if proved, would ultimately end in conviction of the accused.

13. The Supreme Court ultimately held that in the following cases an order of the Magistrate issuing process against the accused can be quashed or set aside.

(1) where the allegations made in complaint or the statement of the witnesses recorded in support of the same taken at their face value make out absolutely no case against the accused or the complaint does not disclose the essential ingredients of an offence which is alleged against the accused;

(2) where the allegations made in the complaint are patently absurd and inherently improbable so that no prudent person can even reach a conclusion that there is sufficient ground for proceeding against the accused;

Page 7 of 34 R/CR.MA/15382/2012 CAV JUDGMENT

(3) where the discretion exercised by the Magistrate in issuing process is capricious and arbitrary having been based either on no evidence or on material which are wholly irrelevant or inadmissible; and (4) where the complaint suffers from fundamental legal defects, such as, want of sanction, or absence of a complaint by legally competent authority and the like.

14. Applying the aforesaid principles to the facts of the present case, I now proceed to consider whether the order of process issued against the petitioners deserve to be quashed or set aside.

15. It may not be out of place to state that from the year 1995 i.e. the year in which the irrevocable power of attorney was executed by the complainant and his family members in favour of the accused No.1 till the year 2009 i.e. the year in which the sale deed came to be executed by the original accused no.1 as a power of attorney in favour of the petitioner no.1 herein, none of the petitioners before me come into picture. It is suggestive of the fact that from 1995 till 2009 the complainant nor his family members ever questioned the genuineness or the legality of the irrevocable power of attorney executed in favour of the original accused no.1. It is only after the sale deed was executed in 2009 that some disputes might have croppedup between the complainant and his family members with the original accused no.1. More importantly, the complainant nor any of his family members dispute the execution of the irrevocable power of attorney in favour of the original accused no.1 but what is now being alleged after a period of almost 15 years is that such irrevocable power of attorney was obtained by the original accused no.1 from the complainant and his family members by practicing fraud. Since the execution of the power of attorney is not in dispute the first question therefore, that falls for my consideration is whether any case to allege forgery could be said to have been madeout. It appears that the learned Magistrate, while taking cognizance so far as the offence of forgery is concerned, failed to consider the necessary ingredients to constitute the offence of forgery.

Page 8 of 34 R/CR.MA/15382/2012 CAV JUDGMENT

16. The Supreme Court has, in the case of Mohammed Ibrahim and others v/s. State of Bihar and another, reported in 2010(1) GLH 184, very exhaustively explained as to what will constitute forgery. The ratio as propounded by the Supreme Court in the said case squarely applies in the present case. The relevant paragraphs are reproduced hereinbelow : "10. Section 467 (in so far as it is relevant to this case) provides that whoever forges a document which purports to be a valuable security, shall be punished with imprisonment for life or with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years and shall also be liable to fine. Section 471, relevant to our purpose, provides that whoever fraudulently or dishonestly uses as genuine any document which he knows or has reason to believe to be a forged document, shall be punished in the same manner as if he had forged such document.

11. Section 470 defines a forged document as a false document made by forgery. The term "forgery" used in these two sections is defined in section

463. Whoever makes any false documents with intent to cause damage or injury to the public or to any person, or to support any claim or title, or to cause any person to part with property, or to enter into express or implied contract, or with intent to commit fraud or that the fraud may be committed, commits forgery.

12. Section 464 defining "making a false document" is extracted below :

"464. Making a false document.A person is said to make a false document or false electronic record First.Who dishonestly or fraudulently

(a) makes, signs, seals or executes a document or part of a document;

(b) makes or transmits any electronic record or part of any electronic record;

(c) affixes any digital signature on any electronic record;

(d) makes any mark denoting the execution of a document or the authenticity of the digital signature, with the intention of causing it to be believed that such document or a part of document, electronic record or digital signature was made, signed, sealed, executed, transmitted or affixed by or by the authority of a person by whom or by whose authority he knows that it was not made, signed, sealed, executed or affixed; or Page 9 of 34 R/CR.MA/15382/2012 CAV JUDGMENT Secondly.Who, without lawful authority, dishonestly or fraudulently, by cancellation or otherwise, alters a document or an electronic record in any material part thereof, after it has been made, executed or affixed with digital signature either by himself or by any other person, whether such person be living or dead at the time of such alternation; or Thirdly.Who dishonestly or fraudulently causes any person to sign, seal, execute or alter a document or an electronic record or to affix his digital signature on any electronic record knowing that such person by reason of unsoundness of mind or intoxication cannot, or that by reason of deception practised upon him, he does not know the contents of the document or electronic record or the nature of the alteration.

Explanation 1 A man's signature of his own name may amount to forgery.

Explanation 2 The making of a false document in the name of a fictitious person, intending it to be believed that the document was made by a real person, or in the name of a deceased person, intending it to be believed that the document was made by the person in his lifetime, may amount to forgery.

[Note: The words `digital signature' wherever it occurs were substituted by the words `electronic signature' by Amendment Act 10 of 2009].

13. The condition precedent for an offence under sections 467 and 471 is forgery. The condition precedent for forgery is making a false document (or false electronic record or part thereof). This case does not relate to any false electronic record. Therefore, the question is whether the first accused, in executing and registering the two sale deeds purporting to sell a property (even if it is assumed that it did not belong to him), can be said to have made and executed false documents, in collusion with the other accused.

14. An analysis of section 464 of Penal Code shows that it divides false documents into three categories:

1. The first is where a person dishonestly or fraudulently makes or executes a document with the intention of causing it to be believed that such document was made or executed by some other person, or by the authority of some other person, by whom or by whose authority he knows it was not made or executed.

2. The second is where a person dishonestly or fraudulently, by cancellation or otherwise, alters a document in any material part, without lawful authority, after it has been made or executed by either himself or any other person.

Page 10 of 34 R/CR.MA/15382/2012 CAV JUDGMENT

3. The third is where a person dishonestly or fraudulently causes any person to sign, execute or alter a document knowing that such person could not by reason of (a) unsoundness of mind; or (b) intoxication; or

(c) deception practised upon him, know the contents of the document or the nature of the alteration.

In short, a person is said to have made a `false document', if (i) he made or executed a document claiming to be someone else or authorised by someone else; or (ii) he altered or tampered a document; or (iii) he obtained a document by practicing deception, or from a person not in control of his senses.

15. The sale deeds executed by the first appellant, clearly and obviously do not fall under the second and third categories of `false documents'. It therefore remains to be seen whether the claim of the complainant that the execution of sale deeds by the first accused, who was in no way connected with the land, amounted to committing forgery of the documents with the intention of taking possession of complainant's land (and that accused 2 to 5 as the purchaser, witness, scribe and stamp vendor colluded with first accused in execution and registration of the said sale deeds) would bring the case under the first category.

16. There is a fundamental difference between a person executing a sale deed claiming that the property conveyed is his property, and a person executing a sale deed by impersonating the owner or falsely claiming to be authorised or empowered by the owner, to execute the deed on owner's behalf. When a person executes a document conveying a property describing it as his, there are two possibilities. The first is that he bonafide believes that the property actually belongs to him. The second is that he may be dishonestly or fraudulently claiming it to be his even though he knows that it is not his property. But to fall under first category of `false documents', it is not sufficient that a document has been made or executed dishonestly or fraudulently. There is a further requirement that it should have been made with the intention of causing it to be believed that such document was made or executed by, or by the authority of a person, by whom or by whose authority he knows that it was not made or executed.

17. When a document is executed by a person claiming a property which is not his, he is not claiming that he is someone else nor is he claiming that he is authorised by someone else. Therefore, execution of such document (purporting to convey some property of which he is not the owner) is not execution of a false document as defined under section 464 of the Code. If what is executed is not a false document, there is no forgery. If there is no forgery, then neither section 467 nor section 471 of the Code are attracted."

Page 11 of 34 R/CR.MA/15382/2012 CAV JUDGMENT

17. Taking into consideration the aforesaid principle of law explained by the Supreme Court, I have no hesitation in coming to the conclusion that the case of the complainant, even if believed to be true, would not fall within the first category to Section 464 of the IPC. Since the case of the complainant is that in the year 1995, the original accused No.1 had by deceit obtained an irrevocable power of attorney in his favour, I may look into Clause Thirdly to Section 464 of the IPC, which reads as under: "Thirdly.Who dishonestly or fraudulently causes any person to sign, seal, execute or alter a document or an electronic record or to affix his digital signature on any electronic record knowing that such person by reason of unsoundness of mind or intoxication cannot, or that by reason of deception practised upon him, he does not know the contents of the document or electronic record or the nature of the alteration."

18. A close reading of Clause Thirdly of Section 464 of the IPC would suggest that any person, who dishonestly or fraudulently obtains signature on a document by practising deception, the contents of the document not being known to the person who is putting his signature would amount to forgery. However, Clause Thirdly to Section 464 will have no application so far as the petitioners before me are concerned. It is not even the case of the complainant that by reason of deception practiced by the petitioners herein upon him, he knew nothing about the contents of the irrevocable power of attorney and was lured to execute such power of attorney. As discussed above, the three petitioners before me were not at all in picture before 2009. In such circumstances, the learned Magistrate could not have ordered issue of process against the petitioners herein for the offence of forgery.

19. It may not be out of place to mention at this stage that the complainant perhaps having realized the shortcomings of his case against the petitioners herein, very craftily has put forward the case of criminal conspiracy. It is true that so far as criminal conspiracy punishable under Section 120B IPC is concerned, there may not be any direct evidence in that regard, but there has to Page 12 of 34 R/CR.MA/15382/2012 CAV JUDGMENT be at least something even prima facie to show that in fact there was meeting of minds between the accused persons and they hatched a conspiracy to commit such offence. The learned Magistrate has mechanically issued process against the petitioners for the offence under Section 120B of the IPC on a mere bald assertion on the part of the complainant and his witnesses. I find it very difficult to accept the case of the complainant that at the time of execution of the sale deed by the original accused No.1 in his capacity as holder of the power of attorney on behalf of the complainant, the three petitioners herein were in knowledge of the fact that the power of attorney was obtained by the original accused No.1 in 1995 from the complainant and his family members by practising fraud.

20. I do not find any case against the petitioners even so far as the offence of cheating is concerned. Section 415 of IPC deals with 'cheating' and it reads as follows: "415. Cheating.Whoever, by deceiving any person, fraudulently or dishonestly induces the person so deceived to deliver any property to any person, or to consent that any person shall retain any property, or intentionally induces the person so deceived to do or omit to do anything which he would not do or omit if he were not so deceived, and which act or omission causes or is likely to cause damage or harm to that person in body, mind, reputation or property, is said to 'cheat'.

Explanation.A dishonest concealment of facts is a deception within the meaning of this section."

It is clear from a bare reading of the Section that to hold a person guilty of cheating, as defined in Section 415 of the IPC, it is necessary to show that at the time of making the promise he had a fraudulent or dishonest intention to retain the property or to induce the person so deceived to do some thing which he would not otherwise do.

21. The ingredients required to constitute an offence of cheating have been succinctly laid down in Ram Jas Vs. State of U.P., reported in (1970)2 SCC 740 as follows:

Page 13 of 34 R/CR.MA/15382/2012 CAV JUDGMENT

"(i) there should be fraudulent or dishonest inducement of a person by deceiving him;

(ii) (a) the person so deceived should be induced to deliver any property to any person, or to consent that any person shall retain any property; or

(b) the person so deceived should be intentionally induced to do or omit to do anything which he would not do or omit if he were not so deceived; and (iii) in cases covered by (ii)(b), the act or omission should be one which causes or is likely to cause damage or harm to the person induced in body, mind, reputation or property."

22. Similar views were echoed in Medchl Chemicals & Pharma (P) Ltd. v/s. Biological E. Ltd. & Ors., reported in (2000)3 SCC 269, wherein it was observed that:

"In order to attract the provisions of Sections 418 and 420 the guilty intent, at the time of making the promise is a requirement and an essential ingredient thereto and subsequent failure to fulfill the promise by itself would not attract the provisions of Section 418 or Section 420. Mens rea is one of the essential ingredients of the offence of cheating under Section 420. As a matter of fact Illustration (g) to Section 415 makes the position clear enough to indicate that mere failure to deliver in breach of an agreement would not amount to cheating but is liable only to a civil action for breach of contract...."

23. It is well settled that in order to constitute an offence of cheating, it must be shown that the accused had fraudulent or dishonest intention at the time of making the representation or promise and such a culpable intention right at the time of entering into an agreement cannot be presumed merely from his failure to keep the promise subsequently.

24. Bearing the aforesaid principles in mind, I have no hesitation in coming to the conclusion that no case is made out against the petitioners herein so far as the offence under Section 420 of the IPC is concerned. First, there is no averment worth the name in the complaint that the three petitioners ever came in contact with the complainant or his family members. If that be so, then there Page 14 of 34 R/CR.MA/15382/2012 CAV JUDGMENT is no question of any fraudulent or dishonest inducement to deliver any property. The necessary ingredients to constitute the offence of cheating ought to have been kept in mind by the learned Magistrate.

25. The learned Magistrate has even failed to consider that the petitioners Nos. 2 and 3 are merely attesting witnesses to the saledeed. A person who merely attests even a forged signature on a document cannot be held guilty of the offence of forgery. Before an attestation can amount to forgery, one of the essential requirements is that it must be made or signed by a person by whom it does not purport to be made or signed. The Explanation to S. 464 explains that the making of a false document amounts to forgery even if the false document made is in the name of a fictitious person. It provides that for making a false document it is not necessary that the person in whose name the false document was made must be alive or must be a real person and it is immaterial whether that person is a fictitious person or a deceased person. Explanation 2 does not otherwise widen the scope of Sec. 464. The main part of Sec. 464 has to be looked into to see if attestation amounts to making a false document.

26. I shall now proceed to consider whether the learned Magistrate was justified in issuing process against the applicants herein of the offence punishable under Section 423 of the IPC. Section 423 of the IPC reads thus: To bring home an offence under Section 423, I.P.C. the prosecution must prove:

(a) that the accused signed, executed or became a party to any deed or instrument;

(b) that such deed or instrument purported to transfer or subject to any charge, any property or any interest therein;

(c) that such deed or instrument contains any false statement relating to the consideration for such transfer or charge, or relating to the person or persons for whose use or benefit, it is really intended to operate;

(d) that the accused did sign or execute or became a party to the said deed Page 15 of 34 R/CR.MA/15382/2012 CAV JUDGMENT or instrument dishonestly or fraudulently.

This section punishes dishonest or fraudulent execution of deed of transfer containing false statement of consideration. It states that whoever either dishonestly or fraudulently signs, executes or becomes a party to any deed or instrument which either purports to transfer any property or subject to any charge any property or any interest in the property, and which contains any false statement relating to the consideration for such transfer or charge, or relating to the person or persons for whose use or benefit it is really intended to operate, shall be punished with simple or rigorous imprisonment for a term extending up to two years, or with fine, or with both.

27. There must be dishonest or fraudulent intention on the part of the offender. With such intention he must either sign or execute or become a party to any deed or instrument. This deed or instrument must purport to transfer or subject to any charge either any property or any interest in the property.

28. This must contain any false statement relating to the consideration for such transfer or charge or relating to the person or persons for whose use or benefit it is really, intended to operate. A dishonest execution of a benami deed is punishable under this section. A statement that a purchaser purchased the whole land whereas the seller was entitled to sell only a part of it does not come within the purview of this section.

29. I may give one more example. Take a case where the accused obtained a loan from the Government by making a false statement as to the area of land in their possession, and a charge for the consideration was created on the land, it could be said that the accused committed no offence under Section 423 of the IPC because the statement did not relate to the consideration for the charge which was created on the land. But take a case where the accused unsuccessfully sought to marry a girl and later on made a registered agreement in her favour stating falsely that he had married her and purporting to convey to Page 16 of 34 R/CR.MA/15382/2012 CAV JUDGMENT her a plot of land in lieu of her dower, it could be said that the accused clearly had the intention to cause injury to that girl and her husband to support his own false claim to that status.

30. It appears that Section 423 has been invoked by the complainant solely on the allegations that the value of the property in question fraudulently shown in the disputed saledeed was much less than the actual market value of the property. To put it in the words of the complainant, as alleged by him in the complaint, that the property worth lacs of rupees was dishonestly sold by the original accused No.1 in his capacity as the power of attorney holder in favour of the applicant No.1 herein, for a paltry sale consideration of Rs. 40,000/. Based on such allegations, the Magistrate has thought fit to even issue process of the offence under Section 423 of the IPC.

31. In my opinion, the learned Magistrate committed a serious error in interpreting the word "consideration" as it appears in the Section 423 of the IPC. The fallacy lies in confusing consideration with value of the property. The consideration must not be confused with the market value of the property, nor with the property which is the subject of the sale. Generally, Courts do not inquire whether the deal between the two parties was monetarily fair merely that each party passed some legal obligations or duty to the other party. The dispositive issue is presence of consideration, not adequacy of the consideration.

32. There is hardly any case law so far as the offence under Section 423 of the IPC is concerned. However, I could lay my hands on one decision of the Madras High Court in the case of In Re: Mania Goundan, reported in Manupatra 12Ind.Cas.523. In that case, the petitioner was convicted of an offence under Section 423 of the IPC. The allegations were that the mention of the sale price was not correct and a false statement in that regard was made in an instrument of transfer. The Court made the following observations: Page 17 of 34 R/CR.MA/15382/2012 CAV JUDGMENT "The petitioner has been convicted of an offence under Section 423, Indian Penal Code. This little used section of the Penal Code makes punishable the act of a person who dishonestly or fraudulently executes an instrument which purports to transfer any property and which contains any false statement relating to the consideration or persons for whose use or benefit it is really intended to operate. What the accused did in the present case is stated in the SubMagistrate's judgment. Knowing that the prosecution second witness was in undisturbed enjoyment of half the portion of the land in question, that the prosecution second witness had sold that portion to the prosecution first witness for Rs. 75 and that the prosecution first witness was in the enjoyment of that portion, the accused in order to cause loss to the prosecution first witness and gain to himself sold the whole land for Rs. 120 only while the half of it was sold for Rs. 75. The Magistrate also finds the statement in the document that the whole land at the time of the execution of it was in the accused's enjoyment and possession to be false. It is clear that the law does not make punishable every false statement contained in an instrument of transfer. It must be a statement relating to the consideration or to the person to be benefited thereby. In this case it is the first prosecution witness not the purchaser who complained. The first class Magistrate who heard the appeal found three false statements contained in Exhibit C, viz., (1) an assertion that the whole plot belonged to the appellant; (2) the mention of the sale price at Rs. 120 whereas a moiety had been sold for Rs. 75; (3) a statement that the vendee purchased the whole land whereas the vendor was only legally entitled to sell a moiety. The last of these is obviously not a statement of the character made punishable under the section. It is not, as the Magistrate suggests, a false statement as to the person for whose benefit the sale is to operate, for the identity of the vendor or vendee is not disguised. The Public Prosecutor is nimble to support the conviction on the second head and the attempt has been rightly abandoned, for the fallacy lies in confusing consideration with value. It is hardly necessary to point out that the different portions of the same field may differ in value. The first statement does not relate to the consideration for the transfer. The Public Prosecutor argues that the property itself is the consideration from one point of view, but this is not the ordinary meaning of the term nor is it, the meaning of the term where it is employed in Emperor V. Mahabir Singh 25A.31 which is the only reported case on this section of the Code so far as I am aware. The property is the subject of the sale, the price is the consideration. I consider that no offence has been made out under Section 423 by the facts of this case as found. The conviction is, therefore, set aside, and the fine, if paid, must be refunded. It may be pointed out that the alteration of sentence ordered by the first class Magistrate was illegal, as it amounted to an enhancement under the ruling in Queen Empress V. Ishri 17A.67."

Thus, from the above it could be said that even if the allegations levelled Page 18 of 34 R/CR.MA/15382/2012 CAV JUDGMENT by the complainant in the complaint are accepted as true, none of the ingredients to constitute the offence under Section 423 of the IPC are made out.

33. There is one additional feature attached to this matter. It is incomprehensible why if a fraud has been practiced and the signatures of the complainant and his family members had been obtained on the irrevocable power of attorney by practicing deceit, the complainant or any of his family members claiming to be the joint owners of the property in question failed to initiate civil proceedings for the purpose of protecting their rights. It is not possible to believe that when the complainant's title to the property worth lacs of rupees as asserted by him was in jeopardy, the complainant would have rest content with lodging a private criminal complaint in the Court of the Judicial Magistrate First Class, without doing anything more in order to protect his title to the property in question. The point deserves to be underscored (and its importance cannot be overemphasized) that the land in dispute was inherited by the complainant and his other brothers and family members from their father and the complainant stood to lose entirely his entire personal immovable property so inherited. The complainant could not have therefore been oblivious of the need to protect his title to this property by recourse to the Civil Court. The criminal prosecution could at best have resulted in the persons responsible for the fraud being punished. The same could not have protected his civil rights in regard to the title to his property. Again, how could the complainant be sure that the prosecution was bound to succeed and that the Courts were ultimately bound to hold that a fraud has been practised upon him and his family members. It is, therefore, not possible to believe that he would have remained indifferent and waited for years together without instituting any civil suit for a declaration that the saledeed in question is nothing but a fraud of a well hatched criminal conspiracy. The version of the complainant and his witnesses examined in the course of the magisterial inquiry under Section 202 of the Code of Criminal Procedure is rendered extremely doubtful.

34. Mr. Bharda has drawn my attention to the fact that only the RTS Page 19 of 34 R/CR.MA/15382/2012 CAV JUDGMENT proceedings are going on between the parties before the revenue authorities. The RTS proceedings relate only to mutation of entries in the record of rights and such entries are only for fiscal purposes. The RTS proceedings do not decide the right, title and interest of a person in the the property. That could only be determined by a competent Civil Court.

35. Since I am dealing with the issue of magisterial inquiry under Section 202 of the Criminal Procedure Code, I take this opportunity to clear a serious misconception of law, which is in the minds of many Magistrates. The misconception of law is that once the magistrate orders an investigation by any other person which may include the Police Officer, under Section 202 of the Code, he has no further jurisdiction whatsoever to himself inquire into the matter or the viceversa. To put it in other words, if the magistrate decides to inquire himself, then he will have no option thereafter to also take assistance of any other person or Police Officer to arrive at the prima facie satisfaction whether any case is made out for issue of process or not. Such misconception appears to be due to the use of the words "either" and "or" in Section 202. The misconception is that only two clear cut and mutually exclusive alternatives are open to the Magistrates, namely, either to inquire into the case himself or direct an investigation by a Police Officer or any other person. Take for instance the case I am dealing with. The magistrate himself thought fit to initiate the inquiry and at the end of the inquiry, ordered issue of process. He could have also simultaneously taken the help of the Police Officer and based on his report, could have arrived at a prima facie conclusion whether any case for issue of process was made out or not. In the present case, there are allegations of forgery and execution of fraudulent saledeed. In my opinion, even if the magistrate thought fit to conduct the inquiry on his own, nothing could have prevented him in law in further taking the assistance of the Police Officer or any other person to consider the case of the complainant of forgery rather than accepting the bare words of the complainant in his statement recorded by the magistrate on oath. A plain reading of the words "either" and "or" in Section 202 makes it clear that the law herein has specifically given three options to the Page 20 of 34 R/CR.MA/15382/2012 CAV JUDGMENT magistrate. He may straight way take cognizance or, if he thinks fit, postpone the issue of process and inquire into the case himself and direct an investigation to be made by a Police Officer or any other person whom he thinks fit to entrust the same. In my opinion, these alternatives are not exclusionary. Where alternative choices have to be given, invariably the language employed has to be in the usual form that the person being given such discretion may either resort to one or the other. It does not necessarily follow that he then cannot either resort to both or intermix the same. The magistrate has the power to call for any documents or witnesses other than those sought to be produced by the complainant himself. A bare reading of Section 202(1) of the Code would suggest that there are no fetters on the power of the Magistrate while inquiring to the case himself with a view to decide whether or not there is sufficient ground for proceeding. Indeed, an alert and experienced magistrate with a little circumspection and care can see through the game of the complainant and can call for any documents or summon any witnesses who is in his opinion will be able to throw light on the case and help in arriving at a conclusion whether the complaint is devoid of any substance or a primafacie case is made out. There is no straight jacket rule. If there is any hesitation or doubt in the mind of the Court, it can summon any witness or call for any documents, which in the opinion of the Court, can aid the Court in confirming or removing such hesitation or doubt. It goes without saying that the discretion vesting in him in this respect has to be exercised judiciously. The Magistrate is neither expected to play into the hands of the complainant and accept as a gospel truth whatever is fed by the complainant, nor is he expected to hold a brief for the accused and summon witnesses with a view to find out the defence of the accused, if any. The magistrate is expected to exercise his jurisdiction as the exigency of the situation demands, the only limitation being that he cannot convert the inquiry into a full scale trial.

36. I may quote with profit a decision of the Calcutta High Court in the case of Manohardas Babaji Vs. Khandu Dutta, reported in AIR 1966 Cal. 633. In the said case, the Court observed as under: Page 21 of 34 R/CR.MA/15382/2012 CAV JUDGMENT "The clause 'direct an enquiry or investigation' does not mean one enquiry or one investigation only and it would be wrong to interpret it as limiting to one such enquiry or investigation. Indeed, this enquiry and investigation is 'for the purpose of ascertaining the truth or falsehood of the complaint' and it is reasonably clear from the section itself that the legislature never intended to restrict the Magistrate's power or right to one enquiry only."

37. I may also quote with profit a Division Bench decision of the Patna High Court in the case of Parasuram Jha and ors. Vs. The State of Bihar, reported in 1986 Criminal Law Journal 1266, wherein the Court observed thus: "7. The matter can be equally examined from another angle. The learned counsel for the petitioners himself took the stand very fairly that the Magistrate is not bound by the report of the investigator which he had earlier ordered and has the power to differ from the same. This is well settled on analogy by the authoritative decision in Abhinandan Jha v. Dinesh Mishra, AIR 1968 SC 117 : (1968 Cri LJ 97) and directly by a Division Bench of this Court in Ramprabesh Rai v. Bishun Mandal, 1981 Cri LJ 139 (paragraph 7 of the report). Once it is held that the Magistrate is in no way bound by the report of the person to whom he had earlier entrusted the investigation, it would follow that for his own satisfaction he may seek or collect materials by inquiring into the case himself or for differing from or disagreeing with such report. It would seem anomalous that though he could straightway differ from the view taken by the investigator yet he cannot do anything to procure the necessary materials for buttressing or satisfying his conscience for such disagreement. To bar him from collecting such material or inquiring into the case himself would, in a way, be negativing such a power because in the judicial field one cannot act arbitrarily but must do so on a sound foundational basis. Indeed, to my mind, such further inquiry into the case by the Magistrate would become necessary where the investigator has failed to do his duty and there are no materials worth the name on the record which would entitle the Magistrate to either take cognizance or decline to do so when he is differing from or disagreeing with the former. Consequently, if the Magistrate has power to differ from or disagree with the report of the investigator he should inevitably have the power and jurisdiction to procure the evidence or the material for such difference or disagreement. If the latter power is barred then this disagreement with the report of the investigator may well be open to the slant of arbitrariness or capriciousness.

8. Anomalies that would flow from the hypertechnical stand being Page 22 of 34 R/CR.MA/15382/2012 CAV JUDGMENT canvassed on behalf of the petitioners are, indeed, made manifest by the facts of the present case itself. It would seem that the SubRegistrar, Sakra, to whom the investigation was first entrusted, did not lift his little finger and rendered no report whatsoever despite the passage of two years. If it were to be held that having once entrusted the investigation to another, the Magistrate thereafter is precluded to inquire into the matter himself, the result would be that the mere negligence or recalcitrance of such investigator would hamstring the vital issues of the cognizance of an offence. Equally where the investigator renders a report which is blatantly unsatisfactory, should the Magistrate's hands be tied for his inefficiency or negligence? Take a case where the investigator does not examine the most material witnesses despite the insistence of the complainant or perversely says that no case is made out. Would the Magistrate be barred from inquiring into the matter himself, if necessary and examining the material witnesses wrongly excluded by the investigator? As I said earlier, the basic responsibility and, indeed, the duty of taking cognizance is vested in the Magistrate and the investigator is only a means or a step in aid for either taking such cognizance or declining to do so. On principle, it does not seem correct that the Magistrate should be denuded the power of overriding his own creature or delegate and be barred from inquiring into the case himself.

9. The view I am inclined to take is buttressed by the observations of the final Court in Mohammad Atullah v. Ram Saran Mahto, 1981 Cri LJ 616 : (AIR 1981 SC 1155). Therein the report rendered by the Executive Officer, who had been entrusted with the investigation, was extremely perfunctory and without any material for his opinion that a prima facie case was made out against some of the accused persons. Their Lordships quashed the taking of cognizance in the absence of adequate foundational material with the following observations : "As already pointed out by us the Executive Officer, Samastipur Municipality, in his report, merely expressed his opinion but mentioned no detail of the investigation made by him and referred to no witness examined by him or any document perused by him. Therefore, when the Chief Judicial Magistrate took cognizance of the case and ordered issue of process against the accused there was no additional material before him except what was already there when he ordered an investigation under Sec. 202 Criminal Procedure Code. Obviously the learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, without any reference to any further material took cognizance of the case and ordered the issue of process to the accused merely on the basis of the opinion expressed by the Executive Officer, Samastipur Municipality. That he was not right in doing. The order of the learned Chief Judicial Magistrate dated July 25, 1974, taking cognizance of the case and issuing process to the accused is therefore quashed. The learned Chief Judicial Magistrate may now Page 23 of 34 R/CR.MA/15382/2012 CAV JUDGMENT deal with the complaint in accordance with law. The appeal is allowed in the manner indicated."

It seems to follow from the above that in a case where the investigator fails in doing his duty, the Magistrate must collect additional material for either proceeding or declining to take cognizance. Their Lordships' observation that the Chief Judicial Magistrate should deal with the complaint in accordance with law in the context could mean little else than a direction that he should inquire into the case himself for proceeding further."

38. It is equally well settled that the person against whom allegations are made in the complaint becomes an accused only after the issue of process under Section 204 of the Criminal Procedure Code. Even at the stage of magisterial inquiry under Section 202 of the Code, the person against whom allegations are made and named in the complaint has no right to participate in the inquiry because he is not an accused. It is significant that the word "accused" has been purposely avoided in Chapter XVI "of complaints to Magistrates", the word used therein is "person complained against". It is not until the commencement of proceedings before the Magistrates with the issue of process under Sec. 204 in Chapter XVII that the person "complained against" becomes and is described as "accused", and then under Section 205 a Magistrate may dispense with the personal attendance of such person, who, by then, has become an "accused".

39. There are advantages of taking the help of the Police so far as the inquiry under Section 202 of the Code is concerned. However, it would all depend upon the nature of the allegations and the crime alleged by the complainant. If the magistrate decides to inquire into the complaint himself, then he will have no advantage of considering the case of the other side, although the same may be very genuine and would destroy the entire case of the complainant. If the magistrate deems fit to take the help of the Police Officer for the purpose of enquiry under Section 202 of the Code, then probably the Police may also be able to interrogate those persons against whom allegations are levelled. It is possible that the Police may be able to find out the truth if he gets an opportunity to look into the documents or consider the version of the other side Page 24 of 34 R/CR.MA/15382/2012 CAV JUDGMENT too. I clarify that even if the Police Officer interrogates the persons complained against in the complaint, they would be interrogated only in their capacity as witnesses because they are not to be treated as accused at the stage of magisterial inquiry under Section 202 of the Code.

40. I may quote with profit a very interesting decision of the Supreme Court in this regard, perhaps the only decision of its kind. I am referring to the decision of the Supreme Court in the case of Vadilal Panchal Vs. Dattatrays Dulaji Ghadigaonkar, reported in 1960 Criminal Law Journal 1499. In the said case, the short question before the Supreme Court was whether the High Court was justified in taking the view that when a Magistrate directs an inquiry under Section 202 of the Code for ascertaining the truth or falsehood of the complaint and receives a report from the inquiring officer supporting the plea of self defence made by the person complained against, it was not open to him to hold that the plea was correct on the basis of the report and the statement of witnesses recorded by the inquiring officer. The Court made the following observations, which in my view, are worth taking note of: "6. The short question before us is was the High Court right in its view that when a Magistrate directs an enquiry under S. 202 Cr. P.C., for ascertaining the truth or falsehood of a complaint and receives a report from the enquiring officer supporting a plea of selfdefence made by the person complained against, it is not open to him to hold that the Plea is correct on the basis of the report and the statements of witnesses recorded by the enquiring officer ?Must he, as a matter of law, issue process in such a case and leave the person complained against to establish his plea of self defence at the trial ? It may be pointed out here that the High Court itself recognised that it would not be correct to lay down a proposition in absolute terms that whenever a defence under any of the exceptions in the Indian Penal Code is pleaded by the person complained against, the Magistrate would not be justified in dismissing the complaint and must issue process. Said the High Court :

"As we have already observed, if there is a complaint, which itself discloses a complete defence under any of the exceptions, it might be a case where a Magistrate would be justified in dismissing such a complaint finding that there was no sufficient ground to proceed with the case."

Page 25 of 34 R/CR.MA/15382/2012 CAV JUDGMENT

7. We are of the view that the High Court was in error in holding in this case that as a matter of law, it was not open to the learned Presidency Magistrate to come to the conclusion that on the materials before him no offence had been made out and there was no sufficient ground for proceeding further on the complaint.

8. The relevant sections bearing On the question are Ss. 200, 202 and

203.

"Section 200. A Magistrate taking cognizance of an offence on complaint shall at once examine the complainant and the witnesses present, if any, upon oath and the substance of the examination shall be reduced to writing and shall be signed by the complainant and the witnesses, and also by the Magistrate :

Provided as follows :

(a) ...... ...... .... .... .. ....

(aa) ........ ...... .... .... ....

(b) where the Magistrate is a presidency Magistrate, such examination may be on oath or not as the Magistrate in each case thinks fit, and where the complaint is made in writing need not be reduced to writing, but the Magistrate may, if he thinks fit, before the matter of the complaint is brought before him, require it to be reduced to writing;

(c) ........................???.

Section 202(1). Any Magistrate, on receipt of a complaint of an offence which he is authorised to take cognizance, or which has been transferred to him under S. 192, may, if he trunks fit, for reasons to be recorded in writing, postpone the issue of process for compelling the attendance of the person complained against, and either inquire into the case himself or, if he is a Magistrate other than a Magistrate of the third class, direct an inquiry or investigation to be made by any Magistrate subordinate to him, or by a police officer, or by such other person as he thinks fit, for the purpose of ascertaining the truth or falsehood of the complaint :

Provided that ........ .... .... (it is unnecessary to read the proviso). (2) If any inquiry or investigation under this section is made by a person not being a Magistrate or a police officer, such person shall exercise all the powers conferred by this Code on an officer in charge of a police station, except that he shall not have power to arrest without warrant.

(2A) Any Magistrate inquiring into a case under this section may, if he thinks fit, take evidence of witnesses on oath.

(3) This section applies also to the police in the towns of Calcutta and Bombay.

Page 26 of 34 R/CR.MA/15382/2012 CAV JUDGMENT

Section 203. The Magistrate before whom a complaint is made or to whom it has been transferred, may dismiss the complaint, if, after considering the statement on oath (if any) of the complainant and the witnesses and the result of the investigation or inquiry (if any) under S. 202, there is in his judgment no sufficient ground for proceeding. In such case he shall briefly record his reasons for so doing."

9. The general scheme of the aforesaid sections is quite clear. Section 200 says inter alia what a Magistrate taking cognizance of an offence on complaint shall do on receipt of such a complaint. Section 202 says that the Magistrate may, if he thinks fit, for reasons to be recorded in writing, postpone the issue of process for compelling the attendance of the person complained against and direct an inquiry for the purpose of ascertaining the truth or falsehood of the complaint; in other words, the scope of an inquiry under the section is limited to finding out the truth or falsehood of the complaint in order to determine the question of the issue of process. The inquiry is for the purpose of ascertaining the truth or falsehood of the complaint; that is, for ascertaining whether there is evidence in support of the complaint so as to justify the issue of process and commencement of proceedings against the person concerned. The section does not say that a regular trial for adjudging the guilt or otherwise of the person complained against should take place at that stage; for the person complained against can be legally called upon to answer the accusation made against him only when a process has issued and he is put on trial. Section 203, be it noted, consists of two parts : the first part indicates what are the materials which the Magistrate must consider, and the second part says that if after considering those materials there is in his judgment no sufficient ground for proceeding, he may dismiss the complaint. Section 204 says that if in the opinion of the Magistrate there is sufficient ground for proceeding, he shall take steps for the issue of necessary process.

10. Now, in the case before us it is not contended that the learned Presidency Magistrate failed to consider the materials which he had to consider, before passing his order under S. 203, Criminal Procedure Code. As a matter of fact the learned Magistrate fully, fairly and impartially considered these materials. What is contended on behalf of the respondent complainant is that as a matter of law it was not open to the learned Magistrate to accept the plea of right of selfdefence at a stage when all that he had to determine was whether a process should issue or not against the appellant. We are unable to accept this contention as correct. It is manifestly clear from the provisions of S. 203 that the judgment which the Magistrate has to form must be based on the statements of the complainant and his witnesses and the result of the investigation or inquiry. The section itself makes that clear, and it is not necessary to refer to authorities in support thereof. But the judgment which the Magistrate has to form is whether or not there is sufficient ground for proceeding. This does not mean that the Magistrate is bound to accept the result of the Page 27 of 34 R/CR.MA/15382/2012 CAV JUDGMENT inquiry or investigation or that he must accept any plea that is set up on behalf of the person complained against. The Magistrate must apply his judicial mind to the materials on which he has to form his judgment. In arriving at his judgment he is not fettered in any way except by judicial considerations; he is not bound to accept what the inquiring officer says, nor is he precluded from accepting a plea based on an exception, provided always there are satisfactory and reliable materials on which he can base his judgment as to whether there is sufficient ground for proceeding on the complaint or not. If the Magistrate has not misdirected himself as to the scope of an enquiry under S. 202 and has applied his mind judicially to the materials before him, we think that it would be erroneous in law to hold that a plea based on an exception can never be accepted by him in arriving at his judgment. What bearing such a plea has on the case of the complainant and his witnesses, to what extent they are falsified by the evidence of other witnesses all these are questions which must be answered with reference to the facts of each case. No universal rule can be laid in respect of such questions.

11. In support of its view the High Court has relied on some of its earlier decisions : Dhondu Bapu v. Emperor, 29 Bom LR 713 : (AIR 1927 Bom 436); Emperor v. J.A. Finan, 33 Bom LR 1182 : (AIR 1931 Bom

524) and Tulsidas Amanmal Karani v. S.F. Billimoria, 34 Bom LR 910 :

(AIR 1932 Bom 490). We do not think that any of the aforesaid decisions lays down any such proposition in absolute terms as is contended for on behalf of the respondent. In 29 Bom LR 713 : (AIR 1927 Bom 436) (supra), a complaint charging defamation was dismissed by the Magistrate under S. 203 without taking any evidence, on the ground that the accused was protected by S. 499, exception 8. It was held that the order of dismissal was bad. Patkar, J. significantly observed :

"If the Magistrate in this case had taken evidence on behalf of the prosecution and on behalf of the accused, and passed a proper order for discharge, the order of the District Magistrate ordering a further enquiry without giving reasons might have stood on a different footing. We do not think that, under the circumstances of this case, there are adequate grounds for interfering with the order of the District Magistrate."

12. In 33 Bom LR 1182 : (AIR 1931 Bom 524) (supra) the accused did not dispute the correctness of the statements made by the complainant, but in justification pleaded the order passed by his superior officer and claimed protection under Ss. 76 and 79 of the Indian Penal Code. It is worthy of note that the order of the superior officer was not produced, but that officer very improperly wrote a letter to the Magistrate saying that he had given such an order. In these circumstances, the same learned Judge who decided the earlier case observed :

Page 28 of 34 R/CR.MA/15382/2012 CAV JUDGMENT

"It was, therefore, incumbent on the Magistrate to investigate the complaint and to find out whether the allegation of the accused that he was protected by Ss. 76 and 79 of the Indian Penal Code was made out by legal evidence before him".

The facts in 34 Bom LR 910 : (AIR 1932 Bom 490) (supra) were different, and the question there considered was whether a member of the Bar in India had absolute privilege. That decision has very little bearing on the question now before us.

13. Our attention has also been drawn to a decision of the Lahore High Court where the facts were somewhat similar : Gulab Khan v. Gulam Muhammad, AIR 1927 Lah 30. In that case also the person complained against took the plea of selfdefence, which was accepted. In the High Court an objection was taken to the procedure adopted and it wag argued that the order of discharge should be set aside. In dealing with that argument Broadway, J. said :

"Now a Magistrate is empowered to hold an enquiry into a complaint of an offence in order to ascertain whether there is sufficient foundation for it to issue process against the person or persons complained against. In the present case the Magistrate dearly acted in the exercise of these powers under S. 202, Criminal Procedure Code. He allowed the complainant to produce such evidence in support of his complaint as he wished to produce, and after a consideration of that evidence came to the conclusion that that evidence was so whollyworthy of credence as to warrant his taking no further action in the matter".

14. Therefore, none of the aforesaid decisions lay down as an absolute proposition that a plea of selfdefence can in no event be considered by the Magistrate in dealing with a complaint under the provisions of Ss. 200, 202 and 203, Criminal Procedure Code."

41. Subsection (1) to Section 202 of the Code states that if the investigation is done by a person other than the Police officer, then the investigating officer shall have all the powers conferred by the Code of Criminal Procedure on an officerincharge of the Police Station, except the power of arrest without warrant. Subsection (3) itself clearly states the scope of investigation by a person other than a Police Officer and it empowers such an investigating officer to take all steps and do all things (except making arrest without warrant), which an officerincharge of a police station may do while investigating a police case.

Page 29 of 34 R/CR.MA/15382/2012 CAV JUDGMENT

The wordings of subsection (3) make it clear that the investigating officer is not required to confine himself to the the recording of statements of the complainant and his witnesses and examining only such documents and other evidence, which the complainant may produce and he has full powers to do all things which in his opinion would help to probe the case.

The purpose for citing the aforenoted decision of the Supreme Court in the case of Vadilal Panchal Vs. Dattatrays Dulaji Ghadigaonkar (supra) is to explain that the real object of the investigation under Section 202 of the Code is to collect all necessary evidence, which will throw light on the allegations made by the complainant, and the investigating officers powers are not restricted to merely taking note of what is produced before him by the complainant either by way of oral evidence or by means of document. There is a rationale for allowing the investigating officer a wide scope. It may be noticed that the inquiry or the investigation mentioned in subsection (1) of Section 202 is held with a certain object in view, the object being "for the purpose of deciding whether or not there is sufficient ground for proceeding". If the investigation is to be restricted to merely recording the statements of the complainant and his witnesses and the documents produced by him, this would obviously defeat the object in view because such restricted enquiry and investigation in most cases will not bring to light facts and circumstances which would enable the Court to decide whether sufficient grounds for proceeding in the cae exist or not. Restricted inquiry confined only to the oral and documentary evidence produced by the complainant would give only one side of the picture and would hardly make available any material which could enable the Magistrate in suitable cases to conclude that the grounds are not sufficient for proceeding in the case. It is, obvious, therefore, that the officer who is conducting an investigation under Section 202 of the Code of Criminal Procedure has full powers and he even on his own accord may collect evidence and information beyond what is produced by the complainant.

42. One more error, or I may say a patent illegality in the impugned order Page 30 of 34 R/CR.MA/15382/2012 CAV JUDGMENT passed by the learned Magistrate also deserves to be taken note of. Although this point has not been argued before me, yet considering the importance of the issue I deem it necessary to consider the same. As noted above while issuing order of process the learned Magistrate simultaneously also ordered issue of nonbailable warrant against the petitioners. It is true that apprehending arrest at the hands of police due to such order of nonbailable warrant, the petitioners had prayed for anticipatory bail before the Sessions Judge, Navsari and the same was granted by the learned Sessions Judge, Navsari vide order dated 14/3/2011. Thereafter the petitioners before me also appeared before the learned JMFC, Chikhli. However, it appears that the original accused no.1 till date has not been served with the nonbailable warrant or it could be that he may be evading service of such nonbailable warrant and therefore, he has not appeared before the Trial Court. He has not thought fit to challenge the order passed by the learned JMFC.

43. The moot question that falls for my consideration is whether the learned JMFC was justified in issuing nonbailable warrant at the time of passing order of issue of process against the accused persons.

44. Section 204 of Code of Criminal Procedure,1973 deals with the issuance of the process. It is provided that, 'if in the opinion of a Magistrate taking cognizance of an offence there is sufficient ground for proceeding, and the case appears to be a summonscase, he shall issue the summons for the attendance of the accused. If the case appears to be a warrantcase, the Magistrate may issue a warrant, or, if he thinks fit, a summons, for causing the accused to be brought or to appear at a certain time before him or some other Magistrate having jurisdiction'. Therefore, subsection(1) of section 204 goes to show that ordinarily in a summons case the Magistrate is required to issue a summons, but in a warrantcase he may issue a warrant or a summons. Subsection (5) of section 204 of the Code says very clearly that 'nothing in this section shall be deemed to affect the provisions of section 87.' This phraseology and the scheme employed and utilized in section 204 of the Code of 1973 therefore would go to Page 31 of 34 R/CR.MA/15382/2012 CAV JUDGMENT show that this section, namely section 204 of the Code does not affect the provisions of section 87 of the Code. Precisely because of this reason a reference is required to be made to the provision contained under section 87 of the Code. Section 87 goes to show that 'a court which is empowered by this Code to issue a summons for the appearance of any person, may issue a warrant for his arrest, after recording its reasons in writing. The court can issue a warrant straightway for the arrest of a person against whom a summons could have been issued if the court sees reason to believe that such a person has absconded or will not obey the summons. This position is clearly obtained from the provisions contained under section 87(1) of the Code. Section 87(b) deals with the situation in which a summoned person fails to appear before the court. In the present case this Court is not concerned with the above said situation and therefore, the elaborate study or analysis of the provisions contained under section 87(b) would not be necessary. So far as section 87(a) of the Code is concerned, it goes to show that if the case is such in which a summons could have been issued, the Court has to record the reasons saying that the court believes that the person has absconded or will not obey the summons, before it issues a warrant against him.

45. As noticed above, Section 204(5) makes it abundantly clear that the said provisions do not affect the provisions contained under section87 of the Code. Therefore, upon a conjoint reading of the provisions contained under section 204 and section 87 of the Code it becomes abundantly clear that in any case in which the Court is empowered under the Code to issue a summons for the appearance of any person the warrant may be issued by the Court instead of a summons, if the Court sees reason to believe that such a person has absconded or will not obey the summons. Looking to this clear position emerging from the provisions contained under section 204 and section 87 of the Code of 1973, it must be accepted without hesitation that in the instant case the learned Magistrate has committed an error in issuing the nonbailable warrant against the applicants, without having satisfied that the applicants have absconded or will not obey the summons.

Page 32 of 34 R/CR.MA/15382/2012 CAV JUDGMENT

46. The reasons in writing would be those reasons which have been stated in section 87 of the Code, namely that the Court sees a reason to believe that the applicants have absconded or will not obey the summons. Needless it is to say that it was never the case of the complainant that the applicants had absconded. In the same way there was absolutely no contention or even a slightest suggestion saying that the accused persons would not obey the summons.

47. In the aforesaid context, I may quote with profit a decision of the Supreme Court in the case of Inder Mohan Gaswami and anr. Vs. State of Uttaranchal and ors., reported in 2008 (1) G.L.H 603. The Court explained when nonbailable warrants should be issued, observing thus:

53. Nonbailable warrant should be issued to bring a person to court when summons of bailable warrants would be unlikely to have the desired result. This could be when:

* it is reasonable to believe that the person will not voluntarily appear in court; or * the police authorities are unable to find the person to serve him with a summon;

or * it is considered that the person could harm someone if not placed into custody immediately.

54. As far as possible, if the court is of the opinion that a summon will suffice in getting the appearance of the accused in the court, the summon or the bailable warrants should be preferred. The warrants either bailable or nonbailable should never be issued without proper scrutiny of facts and complete application of mind, due to the extremely serious consequences and ramifications which ensue on issuance of warrants. The court must very carefully examine whether the Criminal Complaint or FIR has not been filed with an oblique motive.

55. In complaint cases, at the first instance, the court should direct serving of the summons along with the copy of the complaint. If the accused seem to be avoiding the summons, the court, in the second instance should issue bailable warrant. In the third instance, when the court is fully satisfied that the accused is avoiding the court's proceeding intentionally, the process of issuance of the nonbailable warrant should be resorted to. Personal liberty is paramount, therefore, we caution courts Page 33 of 34 R/CR.MA/15382/2012 CAV JUDGMENT at the first and second instance to refrain from issuing nonbailable warrants.

56. The power being discretionary must be exercised judiciously with extreme care and caution. The court should properly balance both personal liberty and societal interest before issuing warrants. There cannot be any straightjacket formula for issuance of warrants but as a general rule, unless an accused is charged with the commission of an offence of a heinous crime and it is feared that he is likely to tamper or destroy the evidence or is likely to evade the process of law, issuance of nonbailable warrants should be avoided.

57. The Court should try to maintain proper balance between individual liberty and the interest of the public and the State while issuing nonbailable warrant."

48. For the foregoing reasons, this application is allowed. The impugned order dated 15th February, 2011, passed by the Judicial Magistrate First Class, Chikhli, below Exh.1 in Criminal Misc. Application No. 2 of 2010, culminating in Criminal Case No. 37 of 2011, is hereby ordered to be quashed and set aside. Rule is made absolute.

I clarify that I have considered the case of only the three applicants before me.

(J.B.PARDIWALA, J.) Mohandas Page 34 of 34

Unlock Advanced Research with PRISMAI

Gujarat High Court