The court upheld that if warrants are ineffectively pursued, it does not expedite proceedings in ongoing criminal cases.

J U D G M E N T

The petitioner is the complainant in a prosecution under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 (for short, 'the N.I.Act') before the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court-I, Erattupetta, as S.T.No. 3005 of 2022. The respondent No.3 is the accused. The above original petition has been filed seeking the following reliefs.

“(i) to give direction to the Hon’ble Judicial First Class Magistrate Court-I, Erattupetta for expediting the proceedings of S.T.No.3005/2022.

(ii) to give direction to the Erattupetta Police who is the 2^nd respondent herein for the effective execution of warrant pending against the 3^rd respondent herein.”

2. I have heard Sri.Alex K. John, the learned counsel for the petitioner and Sri.Sangeetha Raj N.R., the learned Public Prosecutor.

3. The respondent No.2 filed a report stating that he has not received any warrant against the respondent No.3 from the Magistrate Court. Hence, this Court as per the interim order dated 03.11.2025 called for a report from the learned Magistrate to report whether any warrant has been issued to the respondent No.3 and, if issued, whether it is still pending.

4. The learned Magistrate has filed a report. It is stated that since the respondent No.3 failed to receive summons issued by the learned Magistrate willfully, a warrant was issued through the Eloor Police Station, Kochi. In the report it is made clear that no warrant had been issued through the respondent No.2. It is further reported that since the warrant issued through the Eloor Police Station could not be executed, steps under Section s 82 and 83 of Cr.P.C. were issued against the respondent No.3 and that was executed on 10.10.2025. Hence, the second prayer has become infructuous. Since, the appearance of the respondent No.3 could not be secured so far and steps under Section s 82 and 83 of Cr.P.C. have already been initiated against him, the prayer sought for expeditious disposal of S.T.No.3005 of 2022 cannot be considered at this stage.

For the reasons stated above, the original petition is dismissed.