Published on: 24 September 2023 at 10:30 IST
Court: Supreme Court of India
Citation: Anil Kumar V. M.K. Aiyappa (2013)
Honourable Supreme Court of India has held that a Judicial Magistrate is required to examine every complaint under aegis of Section 156(3) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 with a view of judicial mind. It is held that a Magistrate’s order must reflect the rational and cogent reason to order investigation under Section 156(3) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 based on the complaint, documents and hearing the complainant or his Ld. Counsel.
11. The scope of Section 156(3) CrPC came up for consideration before this Court in several cases. This Court in Maksud Saiyed case examined the requirement of the application of mind by the Magistrate before exercising jurisdiction under Section 156(3) and held that where jurisdiction is exercised on a complaint filed in terms of Section 156(3) or Section 200 CrPC, the Magistrate is required to apply his mind, in such a case, the Special Judge/Magistrate cannot refer the matter under Section 156(3) against a public servant without a valid sanction order.
The application of mind by the Magistrate should be reflected in the order. The mere statement that he has gone through the complaint, documents and heard the complainant, as such, as reflected in the order, will not be sufficient. After going through the complaint, documents and hearing the complainant, what weighed with the Magistrate to order investigation under Section 156(3) CrPC, should be reflected in the order, though a detailed expression of his views is neither required nor warranted. We have already extracted the order passed by the learned Special Judge which, in our view, has stated no reasons for ordering investigation.
Drafted By Abhijit Mishra