A Magistrate cannot entertain a 'naraji' petition and direct a judicial enquiry without examining the complainant on oath after receiving a police report in favor of the accused persons.

CHAKRAVARTTI, C. J.

( 1 ) THIS is a Rule on behalf of certain accused persons, calling upon the State and the complainant to show cause why certain orders made in the course of the proceedings should not be set aside and why the proceedings themselves should not be quashed.

( 2 ) IT appears that on 18-1-1955, the complainant, Jogesh Chandra Nandy, filed a petition of complaint before the Police Magistrate at Seaidah, charging the petitioners with offences under Ss. 147, 354, 323 and 380, Penal Code. The case made in the petition of complaint was that, on the previous day, an Assistant Sub-Inspector of Police had been making an inventory of certain articles in a room of a house which was the common dwelling house of both parties in connection with a previous case under Section 403, Penal Code instituted by the complainant. While the" inventory was proceeding, the complainant heard a shout and on hearing the same, he went into the room and found two of the petitioners assaulting his wife with fists and blows and pulling her by the hair, while two of the other petitioners were trying to denude her of her clothing. The petition proceeded to state that the complainant's wife had been rescued by his relations, the Police Officer and himself. It was also alleged that certain articles had been removed, of which a list would be furnished afterwards.

( 3 ) BOTH parties are refugees from East Bengal and have taken shelter In a house situated at 16 Munshipara Lane in the Maniktala area of the city. There has been much litigation and there seems to be considerable unpleasantness between them. The present petition to this Court refers to certain dealings of the complainant in respect of the house which are alleged to Save been fraudulent and it also refers to a series of proceedings started by him against the petitioners, all of which are said to have ended in failure. These matters, however, are not relevant to the decision of the present case.

( 4 ) THE sole ground on which the present petition has been pressed is that the learned Police Magistrate at Sealdah did not seem to know how to deal with the case and that he had adopted a confused procedure by means of which he had not succeeded in bringing into existence any valid proceeding at all. That ground is sought to be made on the basis of the following facts.

( 5 ) ON receipt of the petition of complaint, the Magistrate did not examine the complainant on path, but what he did was to pass the following order:"heard petitioner. O/c Section 'o' to treat the petition as P. I. R. , and take up investigation, and if the facts as alleged appear to be correct, take cognisance, arrest the accused persons, and submit challan in the usual course. "

( 6 ) IT will be noticed that the direction in the aforesaid order was that the Officer-in-Charge, Section 'o' was to make the investigation directed.

( 7 ) THERE appears to have been some objection before the learned Magistrate to the investigation being held by the Officer-in-Charge, Section 'o'. The order-sheet contains an order, and indeed that is the very next order, passed on 26-2-1955. That order recites that the learned Magistrate had withdrawn the investigation from the Manicktolla Police Station and transferred it to "d. C. D. D. for investigation". Having recited that fact, the order states that the proceedings had been stayed for some time by the Sessions Judge, but the order for stay having been vacated, the investigation would now be held by the 'd. C. D. D. '

( 8 ) THE investigation so directed was held and the report made by the Investigating Officer was that the complainant's case was false. Thereupon the complainant appears to have filed a naraji' petition and on receipt of that petition, the learned Magistrate passed an order on 2-4-1955, of which the material portion reads thus:"narazi petition had been filed on behalf of the prosecution. Let there be a judicial enquiry. Shri T. P. Ghosh Magistrate, First Class, will please hol

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