CALCUTTA HIGH COURT
Siddhartha Chattopadhyay, J.
Ahok Kr. Todi and Ors. —Petitioners
versus
C.B.I. and Ors. —Respondents
C.R.R. Nos. 1396, 1397, 1549, 1573, 3512, 1494 and 1499 of 2011
Decided on 12.6.2017

IMPORTANT POINT
If there is already a sanction given by competent authority and amended charge is based on same facts, no fresh sanction is necessary for addition and alteration of charge.

Headnote:(A) Criminal Procedure Code, 1973—Section 190 (1)(b) of Cr.P.C. read with Section 197—Cognizance of offence—Power of Magistrate is not restricted to the extent of police report only—Magistrate has power to take cognizance in respect of other offences even if same is not described in charge-sheet—But before coming into such conclusion, Magistrate has to apply it’s judicial mind—Word cognizance is not esoteric or mystic significance in criminal procedure code—A case can be said to be instituted in a court only when court takes cognizance in respect of offence alleged therein—Once cognizance is taken, it is duty of Magistrate to proceed against those offenders—Section 190(1)(b) does not lay down that Magistrate can take cognizance of an offence only on Investigating Officer’s report if investigation has made out a case against accused, Magistrate can even ignore observation investigating officer and can independently apply his mind on perusal of case diary to ascertain if any offence is made out and then take cognizance of case, under Section 190(1)(b) Cr.P.C. and shall pass an order for issuing process against accused. (Para 7)

       (B) Indian Penal Code, 1860—Sections 306/120B/506—Criminal Procedure Code, 1973—Section 227—Abetment of suicide, criminal intimidation and conspiracy—Framing of charge—Initially CBI submitted charge-sheet under Section 120B/506/306 IPC against all accused persons including police officials—At the time of filing of such charge-sheet CBI had mentioned that they opted for a sanction from State and since that was not granted at that time, they reserved right to file supplementary charge-sheet—When first charge-sheet was submitted, Magistrate has applied his judicial mind and issued process against police officials holding specifically that alleged offences committed by police officers do not come within purview of their official duties including dereliction of their duties—On the basis of such findings, he had issued process—There is no error committed by Magistrate—Whether act done by police officers are purported to have been done in their official capacity or not is a debatable issue— When supplementary charge-sheet has been filed, Magistrate again took cognizance on the basis of supplementary charge-sheet which cannot be thrown out as it is a part and parcel of former charge-sheet—Court should be very cautious in allowing application Section 227 Cr.P.C. because without affording any opportunity to prosecution to substantiate allegation through witness, accused gets an escape from net of law—No reason to invoke power under Section 401 Cr.P.C. or 482 Cr.P.C. in this case. (Paras 9, 25 and 48)

       (C) Indian Penal Code, 1860—Section 306—Abetment of suicide—More often than not suicide stems from blocked or unfulfilled psychological needs—This tends to be what causes pain that suicidal act seeks to end—A pervasive sense of hopelessness defined in terms of pessimistic expectations about future is even more important than other form of negative emotions such as anger and depression in predicting suicidal behaviour—In such a situation, person who commits suicide is fully convinced that nothing can be done to improve his situation—Sometimes some people contemplate suicide—They have ambivalent feelings about this decision—Suicide provides a distinctive way to escape from intolerable circumstances, which includes painful self-awareness—Cessation can be visualized as offering a solution to life’s problems. (Para 40)

       (D) Criminal Procedure Code, 1973—Sections 197(4) and 216(5)—Sanction for prosecution—If there is already a sanction given by competent authority and amended charge is based on same facts, no fresh sanction is necessary for addition and alteration of charge—Giving of sanction confers a jurisdiction to try but court can proceed with altered or added charge without fresh sanction on same facts, which were already been considered by sanctioning authority. (Para 51)

       Result: Revision Petitions dismissed.