The main legal point established in the judgment is that the Magistrate has the discretion to decide whether to direct the police to investigate a complaint case or to proceed under Section 200 Cr.P.C, and must exercise this discretion judiciously.

S.P. Garg, J.

1. The petitioner has preferred the present petition impugning order dated 10.05.2012 of learned Additional Sessions Judge whereby his revision petition being C.R.No.69/12 challenging dismissal order dated 10.10.2011 under Section 156(3) Cr.P.C was dismissed.

2. I have heard the petitioner and have examined the trial court record. Only grievance of the petitioner is that the trial court did not direct the police to investigate his complaint under Section 156(3) Cr.P.C. His plea is that the matter requires investigation through police as he is unable to collect and produce the evidence. The complaint case filed by him discloses commission of cognizable offences by the respondents.

3. The petitioner filed a complaint case against six police officials, two private persons and three unknown persons for committing various offences before the trial court on 5th April, 2011. Vide order dated 10th October, 2011, the application under Section 156(3) Cr.P.C was dismissed. The complainant was directed to prove his case by producing evidence and the case was adjourned for recording statements of the witnesses for 26th April, 2012. The complainant went in the revision and the revision petition was dismissed vide order dated 10th May, 2012. The petitioner thereafter filed the present petition on 15th March, 2013. The petitioner has not given any explanation for delay in filing the petition against the order passed in revision petition.

4. On merits also, I find no illegality or irregularity in the impugned order whereby the learned Magistrate declined to get the matter investigated under Section 156(3) Cr.P.C. It is well settled that when a complaint case is filed under Section 200 Cr.P.C. before a Magistrate, he has two options either to get the matter investigated through police under Section 156 (3) Cr.P.C. or to proceed under Section 200 Cr.P.C. When the Magistrate proceeds under Section 156 (3) of the Code, he passes order without taking cognizance of the offence. If he wishes to proceed under Section 200 of the Code then, he has to take cognizance of the matter and follow the procedure prescribed under chapter-XV. It is an alternative procedure which the Magistrate ‘may’ or ‘may not’ adopt at the stage when he is examining the complainant under Section 156 (3) of the Code. Under Section 200 Cr.P.C., the Magistrate has a duty to record evidence led by the complainant and also to examine his witnesses and if necessary even to call for a police report and then to decide as to whether he has to proceed under chapter-XV or has to dismiss the complaint. Section 156 (3) empowers the Magistrate to refer and direct the police to investigate the cognizable offence. It is however not necessary to refer every complaint filed under Section 200 to the police for investigation under Section 156 (3) Cr.P.C. In ‘Skipper Reverages Pvt. Ltd. vs. State’, 2001 (92) DCT 217 SC, while relying upon ‘Suresh Chand Jain vs. State of Madhya Pradesh and Ors.’, 2001 (1) AD (Cri.) SC 34, Supreme Court held :

“7. It is true that Section 156(3) of the Code empowers a Magistrate to direct the police to register a case and initiate investigations but this power has to be exercised judiciously on proper grounds and not in a mechanical manner. In those cases where the allegations are not very serious and the complainant himself is in possession of evidence to prove his allegations there should be no need to pass orders under Section 156(3) of the Code. The discretion ought to be exercised after proper application of mind and only in those cases where the Magistrate is of the view that the nature of the allegations is such that the complainant himself may not be in a position to collect and produce evidence before the Court and interests of justice demand that the police should step in to held the complainant.-------------"

10. Section 156(3) of the Code aims at curtailing and controlling the arbitrariness on the part of the police authorities in the ma