The court ruled that a Magistrate cannot entertain a complaint under Section 211 RPC unless it is filed by the court that acquitted the accused, as per Section 195(1)(b) Cr. P.C.

ORDER :

01. Inherent power of this Court enshrined in Section 482 Cr. P.C. (now Section 528 Bhartiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS)) is being invoked by the petitioners for quashment of complaint titled as, “Mohd. Aslam Khan Vs Tasmeena Azad Khan and others,” along with order dated 29.08.2018 pending before the court of Munsiff (JMIC), Mendhar (hereinafter referred to as the “Magistrate”).

02. The facts giving rise to the filing of the instant petition reveals that the petitioner 1 herein filed a complaint against the respondent herein, resulting in registration of FIR being No. 100/2009 with the Police Station Gursai, Mendhar, Poonch for commission offences under Section 498-A RPC, having got culminated into a charge-sheet presented before the court of Munsiff (JMIC), Mendhar wherein after conducting trial, the accused person/respondent herein vide judgment and order dated 24.02.2018 came to be acquitted and consequently the said judgment and order of the said court dated 24.02.2018 assumed finality, in that, same was not thrown challenge to, whereupon, the respondent herein being the accused in the aforesaid criminal case filed the impugned complaint under Section 211 read with 500 RPC before the trial Court alleging therein that he came to be unnecessarily and illegally implicated in the criminal case, wherein the trial Court after entertaining the same and recording the statement of the complainant and one of his witnesses proceeded to pass the order of cognizance and summoning dated 29.08.2018 impugned in the instant petition as well.

03. The petitioners being accused person in the impugned complaint have challenged the same and the proceedings initiated thereon, including the order dated 29.08.2015 on multiple grounds, including that the filing of the impugned complaint is an abuse of process of law.

04. Reply to the petition has been filed by the respondent herein, wherein the petition is being opposed inter-alia on the premise that the petition is not maintainable and is liable to be dismissed.

Heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the record.

05. Learned counsel for the petitioners while making his submissions invited the attention of this Court to section 211 RPC read with Section 195(1)(d) Cr. P.C. and would contend that in presence of the said provisions, the Magistrate could not have entertained the impugned complaint or else initiated any proceedings thereon. In this regard, learned counsel for the petitioners referred to judgment passed by this Court in case titled as “Kuldeep Singh and another Vs Pritam Lal and others” in CRMC No. 625/2018 decided on 17.05.2022.

06. Before proceeding further in the matter, it would be pertinent to refer to the provisions of Section 211 RPC and Section 195(1)(b) Cr. P.C. hereunder being relevant:-

Section 211 RPC and Section 195(1)(b) Cr.P.C. reads as under:-

“Section 211. False charge of offence made with intent to injure -- Whoever, with intent to cause injury to any person, institutes or causes to be instituted any criminal proceeding against that person, or falsely charges any person with having committed an offence, knowing that there is no just or lawful ground for such proceeding or charge against that person, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both; and if such, criminal proceeding be instituted on a false charge of an offence punishable with death, imprisonment for life, or imprisonment for seven years or upwards, shall be punishable with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to seven years, and shall also be liable to fine.”

“Section 195(1) - No Court shall take cognizance:-

(b) Of any offence punishable under any of the following sections of the same Code, namely, Sections 193, 194, 195, 196, 199, 200, 205, 206, 207, 208, 209, 210, 211 and 228 when such offence is alleged to have been committed in, or in relation to any proceeding in any Court, [except on