A NALLIAPPA PILLAI Vs. PALANIANDI AMBALAM

JUDGEMENT

(1.) When this revision petition came on for hearing on a previous occasion, I called for a report from the Sub-Divisional Magistrate whether the allegations contained in the affidavit filed in this Court were true or not. The report which has been received from the Sub- Divisional Magistrate to some extent supports the allegations contained in the affidavit.

(2.) The petitioners were accused before the Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Devakottah, and they were proceeded against under various sections of the Indian Penal Code for having cut open the bund of a tank and thereby caused loss to the crops of the complainant. The Sub- Divisional Magistrate, after sending the complaint to the police for enquiry and considering the police report, dismissed the complaint under Section 203, Criminal Procedure Code. The complainant took the matter in revision and the learned Sessions Judge following a decision in McCarthy V/s. Shannon (1927) 29 Crl. L.J. 48, to the effect that before a complaint was rejected under Section 203, Criminal Procedure Code, the complainant should have been given an opportunity to meet the reasons given by the police in their report under Section 202 of the Criminal Procedure Code for not proceeding with the complaint, set aside the order of the Sub- Divisional Magistrate and directed the complaint to be disposed of according to law. He was of opinion that there was a duty cast upon the Court of enquiry to give an opportunity to the complainant to explain or meet the evidence recorded by the police during the investigation and that in this case such duty had not been discharged.

(3.) It is not obligatory upon the Magistrate before whom the complaint is made or to whom it has been transferred, to give an opportunity to the complainant to show that the report of the police enquiry is wrong. Section 203 does not. impose such a duty. All that the Magistrate has to do is to consider the statement on oath if any of the complainant as well as the result of the investigation or enquiry under Section 202 of the Criminal Procedure Code before he dismisses the complaint. Nowhere is it stated that a Magistrate who has referred a complaint for enquiry should, after receipt of the police report, give an opportunity to the complainant to adduce evidence to show that the report of the police is wrong or incorrect. If the view of the learned Sessions Judge is to be accepted, then it makes the provisions of Section 203, Criminal Procedure Code, much wider than it is expressly stated.