C W CASSE Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) M. P. no. 166 of 1948 in the Court of the Chief Presidency Magistrate, Madras, was an application by one Mr. C. W. Casse, praying that his statement should be recorded under Section 164, Criminal P. C, in order that it may be used for the purpose of the enquiry or trial which might arise out of Crime No. 2 of 1947 investigated by the Special Police Establishment, New Delhi. It does not appear from the proceedings that there was any affidavit filed in support of the petition before the learned Chief Presidency Magistrate; but from the order of the lower Court it appears that the Court was informed that one Mr. Thompson had been arrested at Bangalore under instructions from the Delhi special police in regard to certain offences said to have been committed by him at Cawnpore. Mr. Casse requested the Magistrate to record his statement under Section 164, Criminal P. C, for the reason that the statement would be very important evidence in connection with the proposed enquiry or trial.

(2.) THE learned Magistrate dismissed that application holding that there was nothing in the application before him indicating as to whether the matter was under investigation or whether an enquiry or trial had not commenced. The petitioner offered to go into the witness box to give evidence with respect to the pending investigation, but that request was refused on the ground that the petitioner was not competent to speak to the factum or to the stage of the investigation and whether the enquiry or trial had not commenced before a Magistrate having "jurisdiction to try the said offence. Moreover the lower Court was of opinion that Section 164, Criminal P. C, was not intended to enable the accused to secure in advance evidence which he might lead in defence in case he should be tried later on. Another reason for dismissing the application was that to permit such a procedure would be an abuse of the intendment of the section. Mr. Govind Swaminathan raised the same contention before me as in the lower Court and urged that the reasons given by the learned Chief Presidency Magistrate are unacceptable. According to the learned Counsel, on the plain words of the section all that the Magistrate need satisfy himself is about the existence of an investigation under Chap. XIV, Criminal P. C, and also that such investigation had not become fructified in an enquiry or trial. I am inclined to hold that it is not obligatory upon the Magistrate to record the statement of an individual simply because an application is made to him that such a statement may be necessary in an enquiry or trial that may develop as a result of the investigation. It is not all investigations that culminate in an enquiry or trial. A large percentage of investigations end in the abandonment or non-initiation of criminal proceedings. Therefore any person who feels that he has useful information to give in connection with the investigation will first of all have to contact the investigating police officers and impart that information to such investigating staff.

(3.) IN the present case there was no material before the Magistrate from which it could be inferred what the nature of the offences complained was against the alleged suspect Mr. Thompson. Even if Mr. Casse is in a position to speak about the existence or pendency of an investigation, in the very nature of things be will not be competent to speak to the nature and details of the complaint which is being investigated by the police unless Mr. Casse himself was the complainant. That the statement proposed to be given by him was intended to be used on behalf of the defence is sufficient by itself, to indicate that Mr. Casse cannot be the complainant. Therefore it is impossible to predicate with any degree of certainty the correctness of the information likely to be given by Mr. Casse.