A protest petition can be treated as a petition of complaint if it is filed with a view to ask the Magistrate to proceed with the case as a complaint case.

N.L.Untwalia, J.

1. According to the case of the petitioner, the opposite parties committed various kinds of offences in that they illegally arrested him and kept him under wrongful confinement under chain and handcuffs for a period of about 2 months commencing from the 29th of May, 1966 and ending on the 23rd of July, 1966. It is not necessary for me to state the facts in any detail. Suffice it to say that according to the case of the petitioner, when he was rescued by the police on 23-7-1966 from the wrongful confinement, he made a statement upon which a case was instituted and first information report was drawn up. In the said case being Birni P. S. Case No. 4 (7) 66 under Sections 147, 344 and 365 of the Penal Code after investigation the police submitted a final report on 9-1-1967. On the same date the petitioner filed a petition in the Court of the Sub-divisional Magistrate, Giridih. It is necessary to quote the contents of that petition in full-

"The humble petition of protest on behalf of the informant Sarju Ram against the F. R. in this case. Most respectfully sheweth: (1) That the police has submitted Final report false in this case.

(2) That the case of the informant was true. He was recovered by the D. I. Police from the house of the accused.

(3) That the police has submitted F. R. false in collusion with the accused who are moneyed and influential men.

(4) That a Judicial inquiry is necessary.

(5) That other grounds will be urged at the time of hearing.

In the circumstances it is earnestly prayed that your honour would be pleased to refuse to accept the F. R. and order a judicial inquiry. And for this act of kindness the informant shall ever pray."

2 The learned Sub-divisional Magistrate, by his order dated 6-4-19G7, accepted the police report and discharged the accused from the operation of the bail bond. The petitioner filed Criminal Revision No. 31 of 1967 which was dismissed by the learned Additional Sessions Judge, 2nd Court, Hazaribagh. The learned Additional Sessions Judge also took the view that there was no illegality or irregularity committed by the learned Magistrate in accepting the final report submitted by the police. The petitioner has come up in revision to this Court.

3. The submission on behalf of the petitioner is that the protest petition filed by him on 9-1-1967 ought to have been treated as a petition of complaint, he ought to have been examined on solemn affirmation in accordance with Sec.200 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (hereinafter called the Code) and thereafter the petition ought to have been dealt with in accordance with the other sections occurring in Chapter XVI of the Code. The contention on behalf of the opposite party is that the petition filed by the petitioner on 9-1-1967 was not a petition of complaint either in form or in effect or substance and hence the learned Sub-divisional Magistrate committed no error in not treating it as such.

4. Filing of the protest petitions in relation to investigation of a case instituted at a police station, if the investigation or the report by the police goes against the informant, has not been an unusual feature in this State. On the filing of a protest petition, generally 3 kinds of orders have followed. In some cases. Investigating Officer was directed to file a charge-sheet if on examining the materials and the case diary the Sub-divisional Magistrate was satisfied that the case was such that a charge-sheet should be submitted, in some cases further investigation was ordered and in some the protest petition has been treated as a petition of complaint; the persons filing the protest petition at times have been examined on solemn affirmation and then the petition has been disposed of in accordance with the provision of law contained in Chapter XVI of the Code. The Supreme Court in Abhinandan Jha V/s. Dinesh Mishra, AIR 1968 SC 117 has pointed out that the Magistrate has no power to call for a charge-sheet. If upon submission of th