TOFAZEL HOOSEIN Vs. HCHUNT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner in this case is found guilty in a summary trial on a charge under a. 132, Indian Penal Code, 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 No 3, namely, that the offence falls under Section 211, Indian Penal Code, and, therefore, not triable summarily. Mr. Bhuttacharya who appeals 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, Indian Penal Code. This point was decided by the decision of a Full Bench of this Court in the case of Karim Baksh V/s. Queen-Empress 17 C. 574 (F.B.) where it was held that a person who sets the criminal law in motion by making a false charge to the Police of a cognizable offence institutes criminal proceedings within the meaning of Section 211, Indian Penal Code. In this case the 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, Indian Penal Code. 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.

(3.) I, therefore, set aside the conviction and sentences against the accused and order that the petitioner should be re tried under. Section 211, Indian Penal Code, or any other section that may be applicable.