The mandatory nature of registering an FIR when information discloses a cognizable offence, the scope of preliminary inquiry, and the duty of the Magistrate under Section 156(3) of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

JUDGMENT

Jaishree Thakur, J. - The instant Criminal Miscellaneous Petition has been filed under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure for quashing impugned order dated 05.10.2016 passed by Judicial Magistrate Ist Class, Bhatinda, in Criminal Complaint No. 11523 of 2016. titled as 'Rekha Rani alias Rajni Rani Versus Jagtar Singh and others'.

2. In brief, the facts of the case as stated are, that the petitioner who belongs to a poor strata of society was working as a housemaid in various houses along with her mother. 8 to 10 days prior to 15.07.2016, the petitioner accidentally dialed mobile number that is 9914073578 and disconnected on realising that she had dialed a wrong number. Thereafter, Jagtar Singh used to call the petitioner from that very number and kept on luring the petitioner on the pretext that he could arrange for a job as a maid servant at the residence of his friend's wife. On 15.07/2016, respondent No.4 made numerous calls to the petitioner stating that he had arranged a job for her and he called her at Bhagu Road Bhatinda at 12 noon stating that he would take her to Model Town, Bathinda for a job. The petitioner went to meet him and she was made to sit in his vehicle from where he took her to a petrol pump, near flyover, where 2 more persons whom she did not know were standing there. The said Jagtar Singh took a sum of Rs. 50,000/- from them and thereafter all of them sat in the vehicle. She was taken to a room constructed on his land and respondent No.4 pushed her inside the room, forcing her to consume a cold drink. Thereafter, on the asking of Jagtar Singh the offence of rape was committed upon her by one person and Jagtar Singh and another person remained outside the room and thereafter he too tried to commit rape upon the petitioner, but she made hue and cry and managed to escape. The petitioner narrated the incident to one Simran Kaur, who took her to the Civil Hospital, Bhatinda, where she was medico legally examined at about 10.00 p.m. On 15.7.2016 itself the police recorded the statement of the petitioner. However, no F.I.R. was registered. It is submitted that instead of registering an F.I.R. as mandated by law, the police threatened the petitioner to get the matter compromised with Jagtar Singh. The petitioner also approached the SSP, Bhatinda on 17th July 2016, requesting that the criminal case be registered against the accused persons, but the police delayed the matter on one pretext or the other, which left the petitioner with no other remedy than to approach the Human Rights Commission, as well as the S.C. Commission. The petitioner also filed an application under Section 156 (3) of the Code of Criminal Procedure in the court of Judicial Magistrate 1st Class, Bathinda, dated 26.07.2016 with a prayer that a FIR be registered against the accused persons under Sections 376, 120 B/34 IPC and the police be directed to investigate the matter. Notice was issued to the SHO, Police Station Canal Colony, Bathinda, who submitted a report dated 02.08.2016 that a false case had been registered by the petitioner and they would take action on receiving the report of the FSL. The petitioner also sought to produce an audio CD recording, which would reflect statement of the police saying that they could not register the case against the accused persons, since they are dangerous people of the area and very powerful. However, without passing any orders on the said request the JMIC directed that the complaint submitted by the petitioner be treated as a criminal complaint. Aggrieved against the said order dated 05.10.2016, the instant petition has been filed.

3. Mr. Pawan Kumar, Senior Advocate, assisted by Mr. Rohit Kumar, urges that the impugned order is liable to be set-aside as the petitioner has been subjected to rape, which is a heinous crime and, therefore, the police has no option except to register a case and then investigate the matter. It is argued that in the instant case, the cart has been put bef