9911796707
TMI Blog1985 (4) TMI 327X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Gurinder Kaur should be heard. Gurinder Kaur died as a result of burns received by her and allegedly she was burnt by her husband and his parents on account of failure to satisfy their demand for dowry. The circumstances in which Gurinder Kaur met with her unnatural death were investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation and a report was filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation in the Court of the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate on 11th August, 1982 stating that in their opinion in respect of the unnatural death of Gurinder Kaur no offence appeared to have been committed. The petitioner was however not aware that such a report had been submitted by the Central Bureau of Investigation and he, therefore, brought an application for initiating proceedings for contempt against the Central Bureau of Investigation on the ground that the Central Bureau of Investigation had not completed their investigation and submitted their report within the period stipulated by the Court by its earlier order dated 6th May, 1983. It was in reply to this application for initiation of contempt proceedings that the Central Bureau of Investigation intimated that they had already filed their report i ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... forthwith send a report of the same to a Magistrate empowered to take cognizance of such offence upon a police report and shall proceed to the spot to investigate the facts and circumstances of the case and, if necessary, to take measures for the discovery and arrest of the offender. But there are two provisos to this sub -section. Proviso (b) enacts that if it appears to the officer in -charge of a police station that there is no sufficient ground for entering on an investigation, he shall not investigate the case, but in such a case, sub -section (2) of Section 157 requires that the officer shall forthwith notify to the informant the fact that he will not investigate the case or cause it to be investigated. What the officer -in -charge of a police station is required to do on completion of the investigation is set out in Section 173, sub -section (2) (i) of Section 173 provides that as soon as investigation is completed, the officer -in -charge of a police station shall forward to the Magistrate empowered to take cognizance of the offence on a police report, a report in the form prescribed by the State Government setting out various particulars including whether, in the opinion o ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... The question immediately arises as to why action taken by the officer -in -charge of a police station on the First Information Report is required to be communicated and the report forwarded to the Magistrate under subsection (2) (i) of Section 173 required to be supplied to the informant. Obviously, the reason is that the informant who sets the machinery of investigation into motion by filing the First Information Report must know what is the result of the investigation initiated on the basis of the First Information Report. The informant having taken the initiative in lodging the First Information Report with a view to initiating investigation by the police for the purpose of ascertaining whether any offence has been committed and, if so, by whom, is vitally interested in the result of the investigation and hence the law requires that the action taken by the officer -in -charge of a police station on the First Information Report should be communicated to him and the report forwarded by such officer to the Magistrate under subsection (2)(i) of Section 173 should also be supplied to him. Now, when the report forwarded by the officer -in -charge of a police station to the Magistrate ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ould be culmination of the First Information Report lodged by him. There can, there"fore, be no doubt that when, on a consideration of the report made by the officer -in -charge of a police station under sub -section (2)(i) of Section 173, the Magistrate is not inclined to take cognizance of the offence and issue process, the informant must be given an opportunity of being heard so that he can make his submissions to persuade the Magistrate to take cognizance of the offence and issue process. We are accordingly of the view that in a case where the Magistrate to whom a report is forwarded under sub -section (2) (i) of Section 173 decides not to take cognizance of the offence and to drop the proceeding or takes the view that there is no sufficient ground for proceeding against some of the persons mentioned in the First Information Report, the Magistrate must give notice to the informant and provide him an opportunity to be heard at the time of consideration of the report. It was urged before us on behalf of the respondents that if in such a case notice is required to be given to the informant, it might result in unnecessary delay on account of the difficulty of effecting service ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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