J VANARAJ Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Suspecting Vanaraj, the petitioner herein that he sent an anonymous letter to the Judicial Magistrate, Tiruchendur containing the tone of intimidation, the said Judicial Magistrate sent the same to police with a covering letter to take action against the petitioner. On receipt of the same, the Sub Inspector of Police, Tiruchendur registered a case for the offence under Section 503 read with 507 I.P.C. and arrested the petitioner Vanaraj and produced him before the very same Judicial Magistrate. He entertained the F.I.R. and the remand report and remanded the accused. While the petitioner was in remand, he filed an application under Section 59 Cr.P.C. contending that the arrest and remand is illegal and praying for the release. The learned Judicial Magistrate, the de-facto complainant defending himself dismissed the said application. This order dated 26.2.2002 has been challenged before this Court in the revision filed by the petitioner.

(2.) Before dealing with the question with reference to the legality of the order impugned, it would be better to refer to the relevant facts which would expose a sorry state of affairs where the Judicial Magistrate and the police have misused their powers. The facts are these:

(3.) Assailing the order impugned refusing to discharge under Section 59 Cr.P.C., Mr. Ajmal Khan, the learned counsel appearing for the petitioner would make the following submissions: (1) The complaint which was sent by the Judicial Magistrate, Tiruchendur, as requested by him, was registered by Tiruchendur police for the offence under Section 503 read with 507 I.P.C. In pursuance of the F.I.R., the accused was arrested and produced before the same Judicial Magistrate, Tiruchendur, who in turn remanded the petitioner to judicial custody. These offences are bailable and non-cognizable. The provisions require that the police must apply for warrant from the Magistrate under Section 155(2) Cr.P.C. and then arrest the accused. In this case, admittedly, no warrant was obtained. Therefore, the arrest and consequent remand is illegal. (2) Admittedly in this case, the complaint has been sent by the Judicial Magistrate himself. As such, he is interested in the case. Under Section 479 Cr.P.C., the Magistrate who is personally interested in the matter cannot deal with that case except with the permission of the Court to which an appeal lies from his Court. No man shall be a Judge in his own cause. Therefore, the order of remand passed by the Judicial Magistrate, who is the de-facto complainant, on 15.2.2002 remanding the accused in a case in which he is personally interested, is in utter violation of Section 479 Cr.P.C. When the arrest and remand is illegal and without jurisdiction, the Court shall release or discharge the accused by invoking Section 59 Cr.P.C. It is the bounden duty of the Court to release or discharge the accused by invoking Section 59 Cr.P.C. As such, the order refusing the discharge is illegal. (3) The registration of the complaint under Section 503 read with 507 I.P.C. itself is illegal as the contents of the F.I.R. would not satisfy the requirements of the evidence under Section 503 read with 507 I.P.C. As such, the entire proceedings is ab initio void.