1. The petitioners are arrayed as Accused Nos. 1 to 4 in Crime No. 67/2016 of Ashok Nagar Police Station, for the offence punishable under section 78(A)(vi), 79 and 80 of the Karnataka Police Act.

2. These are the petitions filed u/s. 482 of Cr.P.C. by the petitioners/accused persons praying to quash the proceedings initiated by the respondent-Police, against the accused persons for the above said offences under the Karnataka Police Act, 1963 (hereinafter referred to as ‘KP Act’ for short).

3. Before adverting to the grounds urged before this court by the learned counsel appearing for the petitioners, it is just and necessary to have the brief factual matrix of this case on which basis the charge sheet has been laid by the police before the Special Court.

4. It is the case of the prosecution that the petitioners/accused Nos. 1 and 4 were playing illegal betting games by placing money in Fantastic-3 Dice Game at the Om Creation and Association Club, which is registered under the Societies Act, 1860, situated at no. 383/2, Bazar Street, Nilasandra, Bengaluru. On the above allegations certain individuals were indulged in gambling, police raided the place, seized articles used for the said illegal activity and laid charge sheet for the offence punishable under section u/s. 78(A)(6), 79 and 80 of the Karnataka Police Act (hereinafter referred to as ‘Act’ for short). After investigation, the Investigating Officer submitted charge sheet for the offence punishable under section 78(A)(VI), 79 and 80 of KP Act. After filing of the charge sheet, the JMFC Court took cognizance of the offence and ordered to register a criminal case against the accused.

5. Being aggrieved by the initiation of the Criminal proceedings against them, the above petitioners/accused have approached this Court for quashing of the said proceedings and the FIR.

6. Heard the arguments of the learned counsel appearing for the petitioners/accused in respect of all the petitions and the learned High Court Government Pleader appearing for the respondent-State.

7. On perusal of the records, what is contemplated u/s. 155(2) of Cr.P.C. is that if a non-cognizable offence is reported to the police, they cannot straight away go to the spot and investigate the matter. They must refer the complaint to the jurisdictional Magistrate and take permission of the jurisdictional Magistrate to investigate the matter.

8. In this regard, it is worth to extract Section 155 of Cr.P.C. 1973, which reads thus:

“155. Information as to non-cognizable cases and investigation of such cases:

(1) When information is given to an Officer in charge of a police station of the commission within the limits of such station of a non cognizable offence, he shall enter or cause to be entered the substance of the information in a book to be kept by such officer in such form as the State Government may prescribe in this behalf, and refer the informant to the Magistrate.

(2) No police officer shall investigate a non-cognizable case without the order of a Magistrate having power to try such case or commit the case for trial.”

Sub-Clause (1) of Section 155 of Cr.P.C. also clears the doubt that when a non-cognizable offence is reported, then the police shall enter or cause to be entered the substance of the information in a book kept by such officer in such form as the State Government may prescribe and refer the informant to the Magistrate. Sub-Clause (2) of Section 155 of Cr.P.C. mandates that - No police officer shall investigate the non cognizable offence without the order of a Magistrate having power to try such case or commit the case for trial. Therefore, it is mandatory provision that as soon the information is received by the Police Officer himself, which is a credible information, he should refer himself to the Magistrate to take the permission and then investigate the matter.

8. This court had an occasion to deal with Karnataka Police Act in detail particularly with reference to almost all the provisions un