Improper and illegal handling of cases by the Magistrate led to the setting aside of the conviction and sentence in the police case.

ORDER : During the hearing of this revision petition the question arose about the legality and propriety of the order D/- 14-5-1962 passed by the Sub-divisional Magistrate of Karanjia in Complaint Case No. 84 of 1961. Mr. S.C. Mohapatra who appeared for the accused persons in that case accepted notice on behalf of those persons, calling upon them to show cause why the order dated 14-5-1962 may not be set aside and he was permitted to argue this point both on facts and on law.

2. The material facts connected with this revision petition are as follows : One Donga Rensa Ho (P.W. 1) filed a complaint before the learned Magistrate on 4-9-61 against the two accused persons (petitioners before me) alleging that they caused him injuries. The learned Sub-divisional Magistrate on the same day, after examining the complainant on solemn affirmation, took cognizance of the offence and summoned the accused persons under S. 323 I.P.C. This was registered as complaint case No. 84 of 1961. On 21-7-1961 the same complainant had lodged information at Parwan. P.S. against the two petitioners alleging that they had caused him injuries. Apparently, this F.I.R. was actually under investigation when the complainant filed the regular complaint before the said Magistrate on 4-9-1961. In fact, in his statement made on solemn affirmation he stated before the Magistrate that he informed this fact at the Police Station. The learned Sub-divisional Magistrate should therefore have waited for the results of the police investigation before hastily summoning the accused persons under S. 323 I.P.C.

The police case, after due investigation, ended in the submission of charge-sheet against the two petitioners, under S. 324 I.P.C. That charge-sheet was placed before the same Sub-divisional Magistrate on 16-8-61. Cognizance was taken in due course on the charge-sheet and the Police Case continued in its usual course (numbered as G.R. Case No. 118/61). On 14-5-1962 the complainant himself filed a petition before the learned Magistrate saying that the police case had already ended in submission of charge-sheet and that as that case was pending before the Magistrate he wished to withdraw the complaint case. The use of the expression 'withdraw' was some what unhappy. The learned Magistrate however without carefully considering the effect of withdrawal of the complaint case passed an order on 14-5-62 to the following effect.

"Hence this case is withdrawn and the accused Raiman Ho and Bijoy Ho are acquitted under S. 247 Cr. P.C."

Here S. 247 is obviously a mistake for S. 248 Cr. P.C. Having thus disposed of the complaint case the learned Magistrate proceeded with the Police case and convicted the two petitioners under S. 323 I.P.C. and sentenced them to undergo rigorous imprisonment for one month each.

3. Mr. Mohapatra however contended that in view of the acquittal of the accused persons in the complaint case, the Magistrate had no jurisdiction to convict them in the G.R. Case on the same facts and that S. 403 Cr. P.C. would operate as a bar.

4. I have no doubt that when the learned Magistrate passed orders on 14-5-1962 in the complaint case all that he meant was that the Police case alone should be continued and that the complaint case should not be dealt with, separately. For that purpose he should merely have written in the order-sheet that in view of the G.R. Case this complaint was merged with the former and will not be dealt with separately. Instead of saying like that he wrote an order allowing the complaint case to be withdrawn and acquitting the accused and thereby creating difficulties for himself. In my opinion, therefore, the order dated 14-5-1962 in complaint case No. 84 of 1961 is either proper nor legal, in view of the reasons given for the Magistrate himself while passing that order. I would therefore, in exercise of my revisional jurisdiction under S. 439 Cr. P.C. set aside the order of the Magistrate which reads as follows :

"Hence this case is withdrawn and t