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2019 Supreme(Kar) 1714

IN THE HIGH COURT OF KARNATAKA AT BENGALURU
JOHN MICHAEL CUNHA, J.
MRS. CELINE SUMAN SEQUEIRA D/O MR. ANTONY LOBO & CARMIN LOBO - Appellant
Vs.
THE STATE BY PUTTUR TOWN POLICE, THROUGH STATE PUBLIC PROSECUTOR, HIGH COURT BUILDING, BENGALURU - Respondent
CRIMINAL PETITION NO.8952/2016
Decided On : 29-03-2019

Advocates Appeared:
For the Appellant :SRI ARUNA SHYAM M., ADVOCATE
For the Respondent:SRI VIJAYA KUMAR MAJAGE, ADDL. SPP SRI S.RAJASHEKAR, ADVOCATE

Headnote:

Indian Penal Code, 1860 – Sections 420, 464, 465, 494 and 506 read with Section 34 – Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 – Sections 482, 200, 156 – Summons – Private Complaint – Petitioner has sought to quash entire proceedings in PCR pending on file of Prl. Senior Civil Judge and ACJM, Puttur – Large number of contentions are urged by petitioner, on perusal of order passed by Magistrate directing summons to petitioner, it is noticed that said order suffers from patent error and infirmities warranting interference of this Court under Section 482 of Cr.P.C. – Held, If court is of opinion that material available in ‘B’ Summary Report makes out a cognizable case against accused and same is sufficient to take cognizance, and to issue process, then court has to record its opinion under Sec.204 of Cr.P.C., and Court has got power to take cognizance on contents of ‘B’ Summary Report and to proceed against accused, by issuance of process – If court is of opinion that ‘B’ Summary Report submitted by Police has to be rejected, then by expressing its judicious opinion, after applying its mind to contents of ‘B’ report, court has to reject ‘B’ Summary Report – After rejection of ‘B’ Summary Report, court has to look into private complaint or Protest Petition as case may be, and contents therein to ascertain whether allegations made in Private complaint or in Protest Petition constitute any cognizable offence, and then it can take cognizance of those offences and thereafter, provide opportunity to complainant to give Sworn Statement and also record statements of witnesses if any on side of complainant as per mandate of Sec.200 Cr.P.C. – Impugned order cannot be sustained. – Petition Allowed

ORDER :

Heard learned counsel for the petitioner and learned Addl. SPP appearing for respondent No.1State and learned counsel for respondent No.2.

Petitioner has sought to quash the entire proceedings in PCR No.153/2010 and CC.No.457/2015 pending on the file of Prl. Senior Civil Judge and ACJM, Puttur.

2. Though, large number of contentions are urged by the petitioner, on perusal of the order dated 31.03.2015 passed by the learned Magistrate directing summons to the petitioner, it is noticed that the said order suffers from patent error and infirmities warranting interference of this Court under Section 482 of Cr.P.C.

3. The undisputed fact is that respondent No.2 herein filed a private complaint under Section 200 of Cr.P.C., seeking action against the petitioner for the alleged offences punishable under Sections 420, 464, 465, 494 and 506 read with Section 34 of IPC.

4. The learned Magistrate referred the said complaint for investigation under Section 156(3) of Cr.P.C. Upon investigation, the Investigating Officer submitted ‘B’ Summary Report. The order sheet maintained by the learned Magistrate reveals that the learned Magistrate issued notice to the complainant. The complainant filed his protest petition. Thereafter, the learned Magistrate proceeded to record the sworn statement without rejecting ‘B’ Summary Report. Thereafter, on considering the averments made in the complaint and on going through the materials placed by the complainant, took cognizance of the alleged offences and issued summons to the petitioner. The procedure followed by the learned Magistrate on the face of it is contrary to the guidelines laid down by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Kamlapati Trivedi Vs. State of West Bengal reported in (1980) 2 SCC 91,which is followed by this Court in Dr.Ravikumar Vs. Mrs. K.M.C.Vasantha and Another reported in ILR 2018 KAR 1725. In the above decision, procedure to be followed by the learned Magistrate in the matter of accepting or rejecting ‘B’ report has been elaborately laid down as under:

    “5. It is well recognized principle of law that, once the Police submit ‘B’ Summary Report and protest petition is filed to the same, irrespective of contents of the protest petition, the Court has to examine the contents of ‘B’ Summary Report so as to ascertain whether the Police have done investigation in a proper manner or not and if the Court is of the opinion that the investigation has not been conducted properly, the Court has got some options to be followed, which are,

(i) “The court after going through the contents of the investigating papers, filed u/s 173 of

Cr.P.C., is of the opinion that the investigation has not been done properly, the court has no jurisdiction to direct the Police to file the charge sheet however, the Court may direct the Police for re or further investigation and submit a report, which power is inherent under Section 156(3) of Cr.P.C., but before taking cognizance such exercise has to be done. This my view is supported by the decisions of the Hon’ble Apex Court in a decision reported in AIR 1968 S.C. 117 between Abhinandan Jha and Dinesh Mishra (para 15) and also Full Bench decision of Apex Court reported in (1980) 2 SCC 91 between Kamalapati Trivedi Vs. State of West Bengal (second head note).

(ii) If the court is of the opinion that the material available in the ‘B’ Summary Report makes out a cognizable case against the accused and the same is sufficient to take cognizance, and to issue process, then the court has to record its opinion under Sec.204 of Cr.P.C., and the Court has got power to take cognizance on the contents of ‘B’ Summary Report and to proceed against the accused, by issuance of process.

(iii) If the court is of the opinion that the ‘B’ Summary Report submitted by the Police has to be rejected, then by expressing its judicious opinion, after applying its mind to the contents of ‘B’ report, the court has to reject the ‘B’ Summary Report.

(iv) After rejection of the ‘B’ Summary Report, the cour

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