MAHOMED MEERA Vs. DATTATRAYA BABAJI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is a reference made by the Sessions Judge of Belgaum for revision of an order of compensation passed under Section 250 of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1898, against the Police Patil of Karoshi who had made a false report to the Police Sub-Inspector that the two accused had committed theft of certain logs of wood belonging to Government. Accused No. 1 is a medical practitioner of Karoshi and accused No. 2 is the Kulkarni of the village. They purchased a babul tree standing on the boundary of the field of one Krishna Zutale and had it cut into logs. The Police Patil saw the logs lying by the roadside, and thinking that some one had wrongly cut a roadside tree belonging to Government, he made a panchnama about the logs on January 21, 1943, and kept them under attachment. The two. accused came to know of this, and immediately sent an intimation to the Police Patil that they had purchased the tree from its owner Krishna Zutale, and that if he had attached the logs, he should give a receipt to them. The Patil sent a reply to them that he had made no panchanama nor attached the logs, and that they might remove them whenever they liked. Accordingly the accused had the logs removed, some to the front yard of accused No. 1 and some to the garden of accused No. 2. The Patil then made a report to the Police Sub-Inspector at Chikodi that the two accused had committed theft of logs cut from a Government tree and that he had received information from the village servant that they had been removed by the accused to their quarters. This information was sent as a report on a printed form, in which he had described himself as the complainant, the two accused as the culprits, and the offence committed as "theft". After investigation, a charge-sheet was sent against both the accused, and the Resident First Class Magistrate of Chikodi, who tried them, found the complaint false, frivolous and vexatious, and acquitted the accused. He then issued a notice to the Patil under Section 250 of the Criminal Procedure Code and ordered him to pay a compensation of Rs. 25 to each of the accused or in default to suffer simple imprisonment for thirty days. The learned Sessions Judge has found that the complaint of the Patil was false and frivolous and the order for payment of compensation is well-deserved. But being of opinion that Section 250 does not apply to a Police Patil reporting the commission of an offence to the Police Station in his official capacity, he has recommended that the order should be set aside.

(2.) Section 250 can be applied only when a case is "instituted upon complaint or upon information given to a Police-officer or to a Magistrate." In this case the Patil did not give any information to a Magistrate nor did he make a complaint which according to the definition given in Section 4(h) of the Criminal Procedure Code means- the allegation made orally or in writing to a Magistrate, with a view to his taking action under this Code, that some person, whether known or unknown, has committed an offence, but it does not include the report of a police officer.

(3.) Here the case was started on a report to the police-station and the prosecution before the Magistrate was commenced on the report of the Police Sub-Inspector. It is obvious that although in the Magistrate's Court a case may be started upon a Police report, submitted under Section 173 of the Criminal Procedure Code, yet if the case was originally commenced on information given to a Police-officer, the informant may be ordered to pay compensation under Section 250, as held in Jagdami Pershad Singh V/s. Mahadeo Kandoo (1909) 11 Cr. L. J. 201. But the question raised by the learned Sessions Judge is whether the report given by a Police Patil to the Police Sub-Inspector can be regarded as "information given to a Police officer", as contemplated by Section 250 and he says that it cannot be, in view of the rulings in Ramjeevan Koormi V/s. Durga Charan Sadhu Khan (1894) I.L.R. 21 Cal. 979 and Queen- Empress V/s. Sakar Jan Mahomed (1897) I.L.R. 22 Bom. 934. In the former ease, a cartman was arrested by a Police constable for leaving his cart unattended in the bazaar and prosecuted. The cartman was acquitted and the constable was ordered to pay him compensation under Section 560 (corresponding to the present Section 250) of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1882. It was held that that section did not apply to a case instituted on a police report or on information given by a police-officer. This was followed, without any discussion, in Queen-Empress V/s. Sakar Jan Mahomed. We respectfully think that the Calcutta case rightly emphasized the distinction between "information" and "report". Section 250 should be read in conjunction with Section 190, with which it is closely associated, and when they are read together it is obvious that Section 250 will apply to information given by a police-officer if that information can come as a complaint under Clause (a) of Section 190(i), but not if it amounts to a report under Clause (a) of that sub-section. Although the Criminal Procedure Code does not contain a definition of "Police report", it does indicate when the Police have to make a report. Secs.157, 168, 170 and 173 shew that a police-officer can make a report only in matters which can be investigated by the police, that is to say, in cases of cognizable offences. Under Section 155 a police-officer cannot investigate or submit a report about a non-cognizable offence without the order of a Magistrate. This distinction seems to have been lost sight of in Queen-Empress V/s. Bakar Jan Mahomed, in which a police constable had filed a complaint of an offence punishable under Section 160 of the Indian Penal Code, and though that offence was non-cognizable, the principle laid down in the Calcutta case was followed, and Section 250 of the Criminal Procedure Code was held not to be applicable as the constable's complaint was regarded as a police report. This was pointed out by a full bench of this Court in King-Emperor V/s. Sada (1901) I.L.R. 26 Bom. 150 where, Chandavarkar J. observed (p. 158) : The Code has carefully specified the purposes for which and the occasions when the Police are empowered to make reports as to offences committed or threatened, and when they travel beyond them their reports cease to have the privilege conferred upon them by the Code and can only come within the definition of complaint , which is wide enough to include them.