No Hidden charges. Just easy booking. Easy and secure
Nagpur, July 14: The Bombay High Court has cautioned magistrates against
passing orders in criminal cases without a proper reason to it, before
asking the police to investigate cognizable offences.
A Nagpur bench of the High Court also deplored the tendency among people
to misuse provisions of Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes
(Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, to settle personal scores.
Coming down heavily upon persons putting criminal justice into motion
for frivolous reasons, a bench consisting of Justice Bhushan Gavai and
Justice P N Deshmukh rapped a top police officer, Shashikant Shinde, who
had charged his superiors with denying him promotion due to ill-will
and bias.
"This is nothing else but a glaring example of harassment and
humiliation to the officers of the State Government, at the instance of
another government employee, so as to settle scores with them on account
of his grievances of denial of promotion," the Judges observed.
Shinde, an IPS officer, currently posted as Deputy Inspector General of
Prison, Eastern Region (Nagpur), had filed a case against his superiors
in police department and Mantralaya alleging that he was denied
promotion due to bias and caste considerations.
Before parting with the matter the Judges observed, "We find that
various complaints are filed immediately after the Gram Panchayat
Elections, alleging offences under the Atrocities Act. We have no
hesitation in saying that in many of the instances, it was found that
the complaints were filed only to settle score with their opponents,
after defeat in the Gram Panchayat elections. The court expressed
displeasure over a number of orders passed by Magistrates under section
156(3) of Cr.Pc, directing Investigating Officer to register offence
without recording any reasons and without verifying as to whether the
complaint discloses the ingredients to constitute an offence or not."
The judges noted with deep concern gross abuse of process of law by
vested interests, saying "We have come across various cases where
private civil disputes arising out of property, monetary matters,
disputes between the members and office bearers of cooperative societies
and disputes between trustees of Charitable Trusts are made penal in
nature and filed either under Section 190 Cr.Pc read with section 200 or
under Section 156(3) of CrPC."
Under section 190 of Cr.Pc, a Magistrate can take cognisance of an
offence and under section 156(3) Cr.Pc, a Magistrate can order police to
probe a cognisable offence. "Needless to say that least that is
expected of the learned magistrate before passing order under Section
156(3) of CrPC is to satisfy himself, that taking the allegations to be
true in entirety, as to whether the ingredients to constitute the
offence alleged have been made out or not," said the Judges.
It was also expected of a learned Magistrate, while passing an order to
direct investigation, to give some reasons as to why he finds substance
in the complaint and as to how the complaint discloses ingredients to
constitute the offence alleged," the High Court bench noted.
The Magistrates should also take into consideration that passing such
orders mechanically in complaints which do not have any criminal
element, causes great hardships, humiliation, inconvenience and
harassment to the citizens, the Judges noted. "For no reasons, the
reputation of the citizens is put to stake as immediately after said
orders are passed, innocent citizens are termed as accused", the High
Court noted while taking judicial notice of this disturbing trend.
In the instant case, the High Court unequivocally held the complaint
made by Shinde against Maharashtra Director General of Police and senior
Home department officials and subsequent order passed by magistrate
under Section 156(3) of CrPC, as "nothing else but an abuse of process
of the court."
"We have no hesitation to hold that continuance of the proceedings would
amount to humiliation, harassment and persecution of the officers of
the state against whom allegations have been made in the complaint and
would perpetuate injustice," the High Court stated while quashing order
passed by magistrate and subsequent FIR lodged at Dhantoli Police
Station.
http://news.oneindia.in/2013/07/14/magistrates-should-apply-mind-before-passing-orders-hc-1259241.html