IMPORTANT POINTS
(1) FIR – If, on a hyper-technical ground, FIRs are quashed, High Court is duty-bound to lay down law with respect to jurisdiction that otherwise exists.
(2) When a Government Order is issued by way of clarification, there is no question of any retrospective application.

JUDGMENT :

M.M. Sundresh, J.

1. Leave granted.

2. Heard the learned Senior Counsel and learned Counsel appearing for the appellant(s) and respondent(s). We have perused the documents placed before us, along with the written submissions made.

3. A helping hand, extended by the High Court of Andhra Pradesh through a hyper-technical approach, in nullifying the First Information Reports (hereinafter referred to as “FIRs”) registered in a batch of cases, pertaining to offences committed under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (hereinafter referred to as the “PC Act”), which left the investigation(s) being nipped in the bud in some cases, while, in the others, criminal proceedings stood terminated, led to the present appeals being filed before us.

DISCUSSION OF RELEVANT LEGAL PROVISIONS, GOVERNMENT ORDERS AND CIRCULARS:

THE CODE OF CRIMINAL PROCEDURE, 1973

4. The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (hereinafter referred to as the “CrPC, 1973”) was replaced by the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (hereinafter referred to as the “BNSS, 2023”). As the relevant provisions, in both the Statutes, are pari materia, we would only deal with the former enactment for the sake of brevity.

Section 2(s) of the CrPC, 1973:

“2. Definitions.—In this Code, unless the context otherwise requires,—

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(s) “police station” means any post or place declared generally or specially by the State Government, to be a police station, and includes any local area specified by the State Government in this behalf;”

(emphasis supplied)

Section 2(s) of the CrPC, 1973 defines a ‘police station’. It concerns itself with two distinct and separate categories, namely, ‘post’ and ‘place’ Accordingly, a ‘post,’ held by a police officer, can be defined as a police station, and so also a ‘place’. In a given case, there can be a combination of both. The definition clause, under Section 2(s) of the CrPC, 1973, is both exhaustive and inclusive. It is exhaustive to mean, any post or any place, while it includes any local area specified by the State Government. The inclusion of ‘local area’ would come within the definition of place, meaning thereby, a place would include, a specified one, a town, a city, a taluk, a village, a district or even a State itself. Therefore, a local area is a species of the genus ‘place’. The declaration, that is warranted, under the definition clause, is rather formal. It can be specific, either to a place or to a post, or general, to a group of posts or places. Suffice it is to state that, under the definition, there need not be a specific place to be declared as a police station, as even a post being held by a police officer would constitute a police station.

Section 2(o) of the CrPC, 1973:

“2. Definitions.— In this Code, unless the context otherwise requires,—

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(o) “officer in charge of a police station” includes, when the officer in charge of the police station is absent from the station-house or unable from illness or other cause to perform his duties, the police officer present at the station-house who is next in rank to such officer and is above the rank of constable or, when the State Government so directs, any other police officer so present;”

This provision defines an “officer in charge of a police station.” This is an inclusive definition, which refers to a police officer at the station house, placed next in rank to the officer in charge, and is above the rank of constable, unless the State Government otherwise so directs.

G.O.Ms. No. 268 HOME (PSC) DEPARTMENT dated 12.09.2003

5. The Government of Andhra Pradesh issued a notification, by way of the aforesaid Government Order, declaring the offices of Anti-Corruption Bureau (A.C.B) as Police Stations, with their respective jurisdiction.