AKHOY KUMAR MOHAPATRA Vs. BALARAM SAHU

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THESE two cases were heard analogously with Crl. Revision No. 714 of 1972 and Crl. Misc. Case No. 227 of 1972 as they arise out of the same facts. The petitioner in these cases is the Sub -Divisional Officer of Deogarh who was arrayed as accused No. 21 in the complaint petition filed by the complainant Balaram Sahu (O. P. No. 1) in complaint Case No. 1CC.12/72. Facts, have been narrated in detail in Cri. Revision No. 714 of 1972, judgement in which has been pronounced today, and need not be repeated. The following allegations were made against the petitioner by the complainant in the complaint petition. They may be extracted.

(2.) FROM the aforesaid facts it is difficult to imagine as to what offence the S. D. O. has committed unless it be one of making a false statement in the official record. As I have already stated, the various allegations against the S. D. O. made in the complaint petition were diluted in the statement on oath. The S. D. O. also was implicated in the complaint petition two and a half months after the date of occurrence. The explanation for implicating the S. D. O. in the complaint petition after a long lapse of time is not very satisfactory.

(3.) THAT apart, the allegations against the S. D. O. show that sanction should have been obtained under Section 197, Criminal Procedure Code That section says that when any person who is a Judge within the meaning of Section 19 of the Indian Penal Code, or when any Magistrate, or when any public servant who is not removable from office save by or with the sanction of a State Government or the Central Government, is accused of any offence alleged to have been committed by him while acting or purporting to act in the discharge of his official duty, no Court shall take cognisance of such offence except with the previous sanction (a) xx xx (b) in the case of a person employed in connection with the affairs of a State, of the State Government. Admittedly, in this case no previous sanction of the State Government has been obtained.