HAIBAT KHAN Vs. EMPEROR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is a Rule calling upon the District Magistrate to show cause why his order sanctioning (ho prosecution of the applicant, under Section 211 of the Indian Tonal Code, and the order of the Deputy Magistrate, committing the applicant to the Court of Sessions for trial, should not be sot aside.

(2.) The facts of the case are those. The applicant made a complaint of arson before the police. His case was reported false by them. The District Magistrate then ordered an inquiry by the Deputy Magistrate. The Deputy Magistrate, after making an inquiry, also considered the complaint to be false. The case then came before the District Magistrate, who passed final orders on the police report, namely, "Enter false, Section 436 of the Indian Penal Code. Prosecution under Section 211 of the Indian Penal Code sanctioned. To Babu M. N. Mukerjee for trial," The Deputy Magistrate, after examining the witnesses in support of the prosecution, committed the applicant to the Sessions under Section 211 of the Indian Penal Code.

(3.) It appears to us that the order of the District Magistrate is bad, and that we must quash the proceedings in this case. It is true that the applicant made no complaint in this case to the District Magistrate, and so the proceedings are not defective on the ground that the complaint had not been finally disposed of under Section 203. It seems to us that the order made by the District Magistrate is bad because it was one not passed with regard to a matter which had come to his cognizance in the course of a judicial proceeding. If he had made an inquiry into the truth or falsity of the applicant's complaint, he might have had powers under Section 476 of the Criminal P. C.; or, seeing that the inquiry was made by the Deputy Magistrate, the Deputy Magistrate might have had power to order the prosecution of the applicant. But it is not legal for a District Magistrate to order a prosecution when the inquiry has been made by another officer, and the matter has not come before him in the course of a judicial proceeding. The Magistrate himself says the order was passed under Section 195 of the Criminal P. C.. The Deputy Legal Remembrancer, however, admits that this is not so, and that the complaint having been made to the police, it was not necessary for the District Magistrate to sanction the prosecution under Section 195 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.