The informant is entitled to notice and an opportunity to be heard when the Magistrate considers a police report submitted under section 173 sub-section (2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.

Bhagwati, J.— The short question that arises for consideration in this writ petition is whether in a case where First Information Report is lodged and after completion of investigation initiated on the basis of the First Information Report, the police submits a report that no offence appears to have been committed, the Magistrate can accept the report and drop the proceeding without issuing notice to the first informant or to the injured or in case the incident has resulted in death, to the relatives of the deceased. It is not necessary to state the facts giving rise to this w-it petition because so far as this writ petition is concerned, we have already directed bv our order dated November 28, 1983 that before any final order is pass-d on the report of the Central Bureau of Investigation by the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, the petitioner who is the father of the unfortunate Gurinder Kaur should be heard Gurinder Kaur died as a result of burns received by her and allegedly she was burnt by her husband and his parents on account of failure to satisfy their demand for dowry. The circumstances in which Gurinder Kaur met with her unnatural death were investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation and a report was filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation in the court of the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate on August 11, 198z stating that in their opinion in respect of the unnatural death of Gurinder Kaur no offence appeared to have been committed The petitioner was however not aware that such a report had been submitted by the Central Bureau of Investigation and he, therefore, brought an application for initiating proceedings for contempt against the Central Bureau of Investigation on the ground that the Central Bureau of Investigation had not completed their investigation and submitted their report within the period stipulated by the court by its earlier order dated May 6, 1983. It was in reply to this application for initiation of contempt proceedings that the Central Bureau of Investigation intimated that they had already filed their report in the Court of the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate on August 11,1982 and the report was pending consideration by the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate. When this fact was brought to our notice we immediately passed an order dated November 28, 1983 directing that the petitioner should be heard before any final order was passed on the report. There was no objection on the part of the respondents to the making of this order, but since the question whether in cases of this kind, the first informant or any relative of the deceased or any other aggrieved person is entitled to be h^ard at the time of consideration of the report by the Magistrate and whether the Magistrate is bound to issue notice to any such person, is a question of general importance which is likely to arise frequently in criminal proceedings, we thought that it would be desirable to finally settle this question so as to afford guidance to the courts of magistrates all over the country and we accordingly proceeded to hear the arguments on both sides in regard to this question.

2. It is necessary to refer to a few provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 in order to arrive at a proper determination of this question. Chapter XII of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 deals with information to the police and their powers to investigate. Sub-section (1) of section 154 provides that every information relating to the commission of a cognizable offence, if given orally to an officer-in-charge of a police station, shall be reduced in writing by him or under his direction and be read over to the informant and every such information, whether given in writing or reduced to writing, shall be signed by the person giving it and sub-section (2) of that section requires that a copy of such information shall be given forthwith, free of cost, to the informant. Section 156 sub-section (1) vests in the officer in-charge of a poli