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Hon'ble Ram Manohar Narayan Mishra,J.

1. Heard Sri Ajay Tripathi, learned counsel for the petitioner and Sri Amit Sinha, learned A.G.A. for the State.

2. The present writ petition has been filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India. The petitioner has challenged the FIR dated 02.02.2021, lodged by respondent No.3 in Case Crime No.09 of 2021, under Section 174A IPC, P.S. Pahari, District Chitrakoot.

3. The factual matrix of the case as discerned from the record is that FIR was lodged at the instance of informant Dev Saran Yadav, on 29.12.2019 at 09:39 hours, at P.S. Pahari, District Chitrakoot, against Radhey Krishna, Dayashankar and four others with regard to incident dated 23.12.2019 under Section 147, 148, 149, 392, 354, 323, 504 and 506 IPC. Thus as the present petitioner was also a named accused in said FIR, the police investigated the case and filed chargesheet against the named accused persons in the said offence. The petitioner Dayashankar was enlarged on bail by order of this Court dated 15.03.2021 passed in Criminal Misc. Bail Application No.11650 of 2021. The learned Magistrate took cognizance of the offence on the basis of charge-sheet dated 02.12.2021. The petitioner failed to appear before the court during trial and coercive process, bailable warrant, non-bailable warrant and process under Section 82 Cr.P.C. were issued against him at the instance of Investigating Officer and the case was registered under Section 174A IPC against the petitioner, vide Case Crime No. 09 of 2021 on 02.02.2021, wherein it is alleged that accused Dayashankar has been absconding, whereas he is named accused in the Case Crime No.229 of 2019, the process under Section 82 Cr.P.C. was issued on 10.02.2020, which is duly served, but even after service of process and lapse of long time he neither appeared before the court nor could be apprehended by police. Therefore, the act of said accused goes to purview of Section 174A IPC.

5. In support of his contention, learned counsel for the petitioners has relied upon the judgement of Punjab and Haryana High Court delivered in Pradeep Kumar vs. State of Punjab and another; CRM-M-41656-2023 (O&M), decided on 23.8.2023. In that judgment, the Punjab and Haryana High Court observed that cognizance u/s 174-A cannot be taken except on the basis of a formal written complaint as required u/s 195 Cr.P.C.

6. Learned counsel for the petitioner also placed reliance on additional reported judgment of this Court in Criminal Misc. Writ Petition No. 17560 of 2023 Sumit and another Vs. State of U.P. and two others, wherein this Court after considering the submissions of learned counsel for the parties and analyzing the statutory law on the subject particularly Section 195 Cr.P.C. , Section 174A IPC and Section 2(c) and 2(d) Cr.P.C. in the light of judgments cited at the bar concluded that if the Court itself cannot take cognizance of the offence under Section 174A IPC on the basis of police report, then lodge the FIR under Section 174A Cr.P.C. is futile, and will be against the provisions of Section 195(1)(a) Cr.P.C.. Therefore, the proceedings under Section 174A IPC can be initiated only on the basis of written complaint of the court, which had initiated proceedings under Section 82 Cr.P.C. against the accused and FIR is barred by Section 195(1)(a) Cr.P.C.

7. This Court also held in a Single Bench Judgment of Allahabad High Court in Moti Singh Sikarwar Vs. State of U.P. and others in Application under Section 482 No.31819 of 2015 (MANU/UP/2481/2016) that he dated 04.01.2012 had not laid down the correct law regarding interpretation of Section 174A IPC read with Section 195(1)(a) Cr.P.C. Consequently, the FIR dated 17.07.2023 lodged by respondent No.3, in Case Crime No.162 of 2023, under Section 174A IPC, at P.S. Lodha, District Aligarh was quashed. However, it was left open to concerned court to file a written complaint against the petitioner under Section 174A IPC as well as Section 195(1)(a) Cr.P.C., if there was no legal impediment and with these observations this Court had allowed the writ petition.

22. It is clearly established that Section 174-A I.P.C. was inserted by way of amendment in 2005 between Sections 172 to 188, therefore, it is clear that Section 174-A I.P.C. is part of the offences mentioned in Section 195(1)(a)(i) Cr.P.C. for which court is barred from taking cognizance except upon a complaint by the court.

11. In view of the foregoing discussions, we are of the considered view that the present case is squarely covered by aforesaid judgment of this Court and ratio of such case is applicable, on the facts of the present case also. Thus the FIR dated 02.02.2021 lodged at the instance of respondent No.3 in Case Crime No.09 of 2021, under Section 174A IPC, P.S. Pahari, District Chitrakoot is hereby quashed. However, it is open for the court concerned to file written complaint against the petitioner under Section 174A IPC as provided in Section 195(1)(a) Cr.P.C., if there is not legal impediment.