1. The question we have to answer for deciding this case is, in the words of the referring order, "Does setting the criminal law in motion by making a charge to the police of a cognizable offence against a

person amount to the institution of criminal proceedings against that person within the meaning of S.211 of the Indian Penal Code?". It is a question with regard to which there seems to be considerable conflict of authority.

2. The two accused persons in this case, it is alleged, gave information to the police charging four named persons with the offence of robbery punishable under S.394 of the Indian Penal Code. The police investigated the charge and referred it as false. The accused did not take the matter any farther by instituting a complaint in court, and they were prosecuted for an offence under the second part of S.211 of the Indian Penal Code. A preliminary inquiry was held under Chapter XVIII of the Criminal Procedure Code and the accused were committed to Sessions on the finding that there was a prima facie case against them for an offence falling under the third paragraph of the entry in respect of S.211 of the Indian Penal Code in Schedule II of the Crimina