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TMI Blog2015 (4) TMI 1065X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e could not have taken cognizance of the case without the previous sanction of the State Government. The High Court missed this crucial point in the impugned order. The appeal is hence allowed. The impugned order by the High Court is set aside, so also, the proceedings initiated by the Civil Judge (Jr.Div) and JMFC at Chikkanayakanahalli, Karnataka in C.C. No. 74/2009 taking cognizance and issuing process to the appellant. It is made clear that our judgment is only on the issue of sanction and we have not considered the matter on merits and that this judgment shall not stand in the way of respondent approaching the State Government for sanction under Section 197 of CrPC. In case such sanction is obtained and the same is produced before t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ated in the sworn statement of the complainant which is further fortified from the sworn statement of his two witnesses, namely, PWs. 2 and 3. The Court at this stage is required to consider only the sworn statement of the complainant and his witnesses to come to a conclusion whether a prima facie case is made out for registering the case and issuing summons. It is not the stage for the Court to consider the defence of the accused as the same is well settled by the Apex Court as long as in the year 1976 in the case of Nagawwa Vs. V.S. Kojalgi reported in (1976) 3 SCC 736. In the present case, the allegation in the complaint, sworn statement of the complainant and his two witnesses clearly make out the offences alleged against the petitioner ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... of the Code. It is not possible for us to hold that in such a case, the court cannot look into any documents produced by the accused or the public servant concerned at the inception. The nature of the complaint may have to be kept in mind. It must be remembered that previous sanction is a precondition for taking cognizance of the offence and, therefore, there is no requirement that the accused must wait till the charges are framed to raise this plea. ... 7. In the case before us, the allegation is that the appellant exceeded in exercising his power during investigation of a criminal case and assaulted the respondent in order to extract some information with regard to the death of one Sannamma, and in that connection, the respondent was ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... If in doing his official duty, he acted in excess of his duty, but there is a reasonable connection between the act and the performance of the official duty, the excess will not be a sufficient ground to deprive the public servant of the protection. The question is not as to the nature of the offence such as whether the alleged offence contained an element necessarily dependent upon the offender being a public servant, but whether it was committed by a public servant acting or purporting to act as such in the discharge of his official capacity. Before Section 197 can be invoked, it must be shown that the official concerned was accused of an offence alleged to have been committed by him while acting or purporting to act in the discharge of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ufficient ground to deprive the public servant of the protection (Ganesh Chandra Jew). If the above tests are applied to the facts of the present case, the police must get protection given under Section 197 of the Code because the acts complained of are so integrally connected with or attached to their office as to be inseparable from it. It is not possible for us to come to a conclusion that the protection granted under Section 197 of the Code is used by the police personnel in this case as a cloak for killing the deceased in cold blood. (Emphasis supplied) 10. In our view, the above guidelines squarely apply in the case of the appellant herein. Going by the factual matrix, it is evident that the whole allegation is on police excess ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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