E GOPINATH Vs. KANCHANA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE Petitioners, who are arrayed as A1 to A4 in CC.NO.6411/2005 on the file of the XVIII Metropolitan Magistrate, have filed this Criminal Original Petition to quash the complaint and the consequential proceedings.

(2.) THE brief facts, which are necessary for the disposal of this Criminal Original Petition, are as follows:- THE 3rd Petitioner is the mother of the Petitioners 1 and 2 and the 4th Petitioner is the employee of the Company run by the Petitioners 1 to 3 by name M/s.Gopinath Furniture and Home Appliances. THE Petitioners are the tenants in the premises at Old No,285, New No,32, Royapettah High Road, Chennai-14 under one S.Mohd Zainuddin, the husband of the Respondent herein. THEre are civil disputes pending between the Petitioners and the Respondent in relation to the tenanted premises and rent control proceedings is also pending between them.

(3.) MR.Paul Kanagaraj appearing for MR.M. Gnanasekar, the learned counsel for the Petitioner on record, would contend that the learned Magistrate has not applied his mind before taking cognizance of the offence, in spite of the fact that the complaint given by the Respondent to the police was in progress and the same was not closed. He would contend that when it is brought to the notice of the learned Magistrate, which could be evident from the averment made in the complaint that the Respondent has lodged the complaint before the Police and no action was taken by the Police, the learned Magistrate is required to enquire into the complaint as provided in Chapter XV of the Code and if he finds a prima facie case, instead of issuing process to the accused, he is empowered to direct the police to investigate into the offence and submit a report. He would submit that the learned Magistrate without taking into consideration of the above factors had mechanically taken cognizance of the offence without satisfying himself as to whether the allegations made in the complaint prima facie disclose any cognizable offence as against the Petitioners.