LAWS(PVC)-1930-1-95

TOPZAL HOSSAIN Vs. HCHUNT

Decided On January 22, 1930
TOPZAL HOSSAIN Appellant
V/S
HCHUNT Respondents

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner in this case is found guilty in a summary trial on a charge under Section 182, I.P.C, and was sentenced to pay a fine of Rs. 200. The charge against him was that he gave false information to a certain public servant, the Superintendent of Police, that he and his mother had been unlawfully confined by a certain police officer and that money was extorted wrongly from them. He has moved this Court and has obtained this Rule.

(2.) The only ground which it is necessary for me to deal with is ground 3, namely that the offence falls under Section 211, I.P.C., and therefore not triable summarily. Mt. Bhattacharji who appears for the Crown admits himself that the case is an important one and that he would prefer that the accused should be, under the ordinary procedure, tried on a charge under Section 211. There is, I think, no question but that the charge against the petitioner does fall under Section 211, I.P.C. This point was decided by the decision of a Full Bench of this Court in the case of Karim Buhsh V/s. Queen-Empress (1890) 17 Cal. 574 where it was held that a person who sets the criminal law in motion by making a false charge be the police of a cognizable offence institutes criminal proceedings within the meaning of Section 211, I.P.C. In this case he allegation against the petitioner is that he has made a false report to Mr. Hunt, the Superintendent of Police, that certain persons had wrongfully confined him and his mother. Now the wrongful confinement of the petitioner's mother would fall under Section 342, I.P.C. Section 342 admittedly is a cognizable offence. Therefore it is clear that the present charge against the accused does fall under Section 211 and that therefore he should not have been tried summarily. I therefore set aside the conviction and sentence against the accused and order that the petitioner should be retried under Section 211, I.P.C., or any other section that may be applicable.

(3.) In this view it is unnecessary to deal with the other grounds on which also the Rule was issued. The Rule is accordingly made absolute. The fine if already paid will be refunded.