MANINDRA CHANDRA GHOSE Vs. EMPEROR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This was a Rule calling upon the District Magistrate of Hooghly to show cause why further proceedings for conspiracy to commit murder against the petitioner, Manindra Chandra Ghose alias Binoo, should not be stayed on the ground that the two alleged co-conspirators having been acquitted there is no possibility of a conviction being obtained against the alleged conspirator who now stands alone, and upon the other grounds mentioned in the petition.

(2.) As regards the specific ground which is first mentioned in this Rule, it has not been argued before us, and it is clear that there is no charge of conspiracy at present against the petitioner, and the fact that there was an acquittal of the other two would not conclude the matter, inasmuch as there are two persons named as conspirators who have not yet been tried, and it is stated that others unknown also conspired, so that the ground that the petitioner is the only alleged conspirator remaining, can no longer be sustained.

(3.) We, therefore, turn to the grounds which were actually taken by the learned Counsel in the petition. The first was that the warrant against the petitioner having been recalled and there being no fresh materials or enquiry in the matter, the issue of warrant again against the petitioner was illegal, that is to say, that the proceedings are without jurisdiction. The answer to that is that the proceedings are not, as the petitioner appears to have imagined from paragraph 14 of the petition, re-instituted by the complainant, Man Mohan Ghose, but they were re-instituted by the officer in charge of the Hooghly police station under the direction of the District Superintendent of Police, who could not appear himself, but who had been instructed by the District Magistrate, on the advice of the law-officers of the Crown, that this case can go on the evidence. We do not desire to express any opinion upon this evidence, whether it is sufficient or not, but it certainly gave jurisdiction to the District Magistrate to take cognizance of the case if on taking legal advice he was of opinion that the evidence brought the accused within the purview of the law. Of the jurisdiction of the District Magistrate to take these proceedings, there can be no doubt, and it is the District Magistrate and not the complainant who has re-instituted these proceedings.