The scope of inquiry under section 202, Cr. P. C. is limited to ascertaining the truth or falsehood of the allegations in the complaint and does not allow the accused to raise a defense.

Chaudhary Sia Saran Sinha, J.

1. This is a criminal revision by the petitioners, eight in number, for setting aside the order dated 27-4-1979 of the chief Judicial Magistrate, Muzaffarpur, by which he had taken cognizance against 11 persons including these eight petitioners under sections 147, 323 and 379, I. P. C,

2. The opposite party, Bindeshwar Cbaudhary, filed a complaint before the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Muzaffarpur, alleging that, on 31-12-1978, 11 persons arrayed as accused, which included the eight petitioners along with 15 to 20 persons formed an unlawful assembly, went upon plot no 183 of khata no.58 of village Atwarpur having an area of 26 decimal and dishonestly cut and removed the sugarcane crop grown thereon by the petitioners putting him to a loss of Rs.1600. The opposite-party protested at which Laxmi Sah, petitioner no.1, caught hold of him and the other accused assaulted him with fists and slaps and kept him confined for two hours. This complaint was -filed before the Chief Judicial Magistrate on 8-1-1979. He examined the complainant on solemn affirmation and then referred the matter for enquiry to the officer-in-charge, Bochacha Police Station, who reported that a prima facie case was made out against the accused persons. This report was put up before the Chief Judicial Magistrate on 27-4-1979 and on the same date ho passed the impugned order and transferred the case to the Judicial Magistrate, 2nd class, Shri R. K. Rai, for disposal. Out of the 11 persons arrayed as accused in the complaint case, only the eight petitioners have prayed for setting aside the impugned order and for quashing the criminal proceeding stated against them in the complaint case.

3. The contentions were urged by the learned counsel for the petitioners. The first was that the delay in the filing of the complaint on 8-1-1979 in spite of the occurrence alleged to have been taken place on 31-12-1978 showed the mala fide character of the complaint and as such the complaint should have been dismissed. The other contention raised was that petitioner no.1 having been entrusted by the Anchaladhikari, Bochaha to get the sugarcane crop harvested and keep it in safe custody, no offence can be said to have been made out against petitioner no.1 and petitioner no.1 being the Sarpanch no cognizance should have been taken against him without the previous sanction required by section 84-A of the Bihar Panchayat Raj Act, 1947 (Bihar Act VII of 1948 ). These contentions were refuted by the learned counsel for the opposite-party.

4. It is indeed true that the occurrence, as alleged in the complaint petition, took place on 31-12-78 and the complaint was filed on 8-1-79 but an explanation has been offered both in the complaint petition as also in the statement on solemn affirmation of the complainant for the delay made, the reasons assigred being that the complainant approached the police but the police did not take any action, and presumably after waiting for the action to be taken by the police for some time, the complainant came forward with a complaint before the Chief Judicial Magistrate. At the stage of issuing process the Magistrate is mainly concerned with the allegations made in the complaint or the evidence led in support of the same and he is only to be prima facie satisfied whether there are sufficient grounds for proceeding against the accused. It is not the province of the Magistrate to enter into a detailed discussion of the merits or demerits of the case, la view of the explanation offered by the complainant, prima facie, there is no reason to treat the complaint a mala fide one and the contention raised on this score, therefore, fails.

5. Coming to the second point, out of the 11 persons, who were summoned by the Chief Judicial Magistrate, only eight have approached this Court in this criminal revision. The submission was that whereas petitioner no.1, being the Sarpanch and having been entrusted with the harvesting of sugarca