MOHENDRA BHUMIJ Vs. EMPEROR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioners before us were directed to give security for their good beheaviour under Section 118, Criminal Procedure Code, by Mr. Mannooch, the Additional District Magistrate of Midnapore. Mr. Mannooch had been duly appointed, under Section 10 (2), Criminal Procedure Code, to be Additional District Magistrate with all the powers of a District Magistrate under the Code. The petitioners appealed to the District Magistrate who refused to hear the appeals on the ground that they lay to the Sessions Judge. The petitioners then obtained the present rule calling on the District Magistrate to show cause why he should not hear the appeals.

(2.) There is no question that the District Magistrate was mistaken in saying that an appeal lay to the Sessions Judge. The Sessions Judge, of course, has no appellate powers in the case of a person ordered to give security for good behaviour. The only appellate authority is the District Magistrate. The question is, whether Section 403, Criminal Procedure Code gives him appellate powers in the case of an order made by an Additional District Magistrate. In terms it undoubtedly does, unless an Additional District Magistrate is included in the words the District Magistrate."

(3.) For the petitioners it has been argued that the District Magistrate is a distinct person with special powers given by the Code, whereas an Additional District Magistrate is merely a Magistrate of the first class on whom the special powers of a District Magistrate have been conferred by the Local Government.