BANARSI DAS Vs. PARTAB SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE facts of this case are briefly as follows: THE present applicant Banarsi Das applied to a magistrate of the first class asking him to bind over the opposite party to keep the peace. THE Magistrate after recording all the evidence passed an order that the opposite party should furnish security for a certain period. THE opposite party Partab Singh made an application to the District Magistrate which purported to be one under Section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. THE grounds of this application were, however, directed against the order of the Magistrate binding him over to keep the peace. THE application was treated as an appeal by the officiating District Magistrate, was registered as such and he went into the evidence on the record, and his order ended as follows: "I accept the appeal and cancel the order of the lower court; all the bonds are cancelled." It is quite clear that the officiating District Magistrate who passed the order on the application treated the matter before him as an appeal and he came to the conclusion that the Magistrate s order was a bad one ab initio. An examination of the Code will show to the officiating District Magistrate that no appeal whatsoever lies to him from an order of this description by a first class magistrate. It was only in his power to examine the record, and if he found that an improper order had been passed, to submit the case to this Court for the exercise of its revisional power. His order is not an order which can be passed under Section 125 of the Code. THE cancellation of bonds contemplated in that section can be only on the ground that the bonds are no longer necessary. THE Magistrate has decided the appeal without having any jurisdiction to do so. His order is void, and I therefore set it aside. THE matter, however, is one concerning the peace of the district; and I think it advisable in the circumstances of the case that the record should be placed before the present District Magistrate so that he may examine it himself and see whether or not it is any longer necessary to keep the opposite party under his bond. I direct accordingly.