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TMI Blog2016 (8) TMI 1604X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... llants. Also, the court at Durg has no territorial jurisdiction because cause of action, if any, has arisen in Ambala. The criminal proceeding is grossly delayed and a result of belated afterthought. The High Court failed to apply the test whether the uncontroverted allegations as made prima facie, establish the offence. It is also for the court to take into consideration any special features which appear in a particular case to consider whether it is expedient and in the interest of justice to permit the prosecution to continue. The High Court did not apply its mind judiciously and on an incorrect appreciation of record, ordered for continuance of the investigation on a petition under Section 482 of the Code. This power must be exercised judiciously and not capriciously or arbitrarily, as any improper or capricious exercise of such power may lead to undesirable results. FIR is hereby quashed and the criminal proceeding against the appellants is dropped for want of prosecution - the appeal is allowed. - Madan B. Lokur And R.K. Agrawal, JJ. For the Appellant : Mr. Sanjay Jain, Adv. For the Respondent(s) Mr. Anil Kumar Jha, Adv., Mr. Atul Jha, Adv., Mr. Sandeep Jha, Adv., Mr. Dharm ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... t under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (in short the Code ) for quashing of the FIR. Learned single Judge of the High Court, vide order dated 17.10.2011, allowed the proceedings to continue with a direction to the police to hold fair and proper investigation to ensure logical conclusion of the same without unnecessary delay. (f) An application for modification being Criminal Misc. Petition No. 732 of 2011 was filed for modification of the order dated 17.10.2011 in Criminal Miscellaneous Petition 612 of 2007 on the ground that during the pendency of the judgment in the matter, the chargesheet came to be filed by the police before the court which was allowed vide order dated 17.11.2011. (g) Further, the appellants herein filed Criminal Misc. Petition being No. 765 of 2011 under Section 482 read with Section 397 of the Code before the High Court for quashing of charge sheet and cognizance taken thereof by the Judicial Magistrate First Class, Durg dated 03.09.2011 and 13.10.2011 respectively in Criminal Proceeding No. 805 of 2011 arising out of Crime No. 194 of 2005 registered at P.S. Bhilai Nagar, District Durg. Learned single Judge of the High Court, vide order d ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... f the IPC. Learned counsel further submitted that as regards the question of territorial jurisdiction is concerned; the part of cause of action arose within the territorial jurisdiction of the court at Durg. He finally submitted that a full enquiry into the cause of death of the deceased should be made and the ends of justice would be best served when the accused would be found guilty for her unnatural death. (6) We have carefully perused the entire records including depositions and documents and considered the rival contentions. Discussion: (7) Nandini (since deceased) was married to appellant No. 1 herein on 27.04.1999 at Durg. On 20.09.1999, she died under suspicious circumstances at her matrimonial home at Ambala. As per the initial investigation, the cause of death was hanging. Upon receipt of information, P.S. Ambala proceeded to hold an inquiry under Section 174 of the Code. During investigation, no offence was found to have been committed. It may be mentioned here that Shri R.P. Sharma-father of the deceased and other relatives were also present during the investigation. A report of the inquiry made under Section 174 of the Code was forwarded to sub-Divisional Magistrate, A ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... d by the brother of the deceased after a lapse of 5 (five) years. In view of the above claim of learned senior counsel for the appellants, it is imperative to discuss the scope of Inquiry under Section 174 of the Code in order to ascertain as to whether the information received under Section 174 of the Code satisfies the requirement of Section 154 of the Code. Scope of Inquiry under Section 174 of the Code: 10) The proceedings under Section 174 have a very limited scope. The object of the proceedings is merely to ascertain whether a person has died under suspicious circumstances or an unnatural death and if so what is the apparent cause of the death. The question regarding the details as to how the deceased was assaulted or who assaulted him or under what circumstances he was assaulted is foreign to the ambit and scope of the proceedings under Section 174 of the Code. Neither in practice nor in law was it necessary for the police to mention those details in the inquest report. It is, therefore, not necessary to enter all the details of the overt acts in the inquest report. The procedure under Section 174 is for the purpose of discovering the cause of death, and the evidence taken w ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... crutiny of materials on record, the inquiry which was conducted for the purpose of ascertaining whether the death is natural or unnatural cannot be categorized under information relating to the commission of a cognizable offence within the meaning and import of Section 154 of the Code. On information received by P.S. Mulana, the police made an inquiry as contemplated under Section 174 of the Code. After holding an inquiry, the police submitted its report before the sub-Divisional Magistrate, Ambala stating therein that it was a case of hanging and no cognizable offence is found to have been committed. In the report, it was also mentioned that the father of the deceased-R.P. Sharma (PW-1) does not want to take any further action in the matter. In view of the above discussion, it clearly goes to show that what was undertaken by the police was an inquiry under Section 174 of the Code which was limited to the extent of natural or unnatural death and the case was closed. Whereas, the condition precedent for recording of FIR is that there must be an information and that information must disclose a cognizable offence and in the case on hand, it leaves no matter of doubt that the intimatio ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... uch officer shall forward the accused under custody to a Magistrate empowered to take cognizance of the offence upon a police report and to try the accused or commit for trial. Further, if the investigating officer arrives at the conclusion that the crime was not committed within the territorial jurisdiction of the police station, then FIR can be forwarded to the police station having jurisdiction over the area in which the crime is committed. But this would not mean that in a case which requires investigation, the police officer can refuse to record the FIR and/or investigate it. Chapter XIII of the Code provides for jurisdiction of the criminal courts in inquiries and trials . It is to be stated that under the said Chapter there are various provisions which empower the court for inquiry or trial of a criminal case and that there is no absolute prohibition that the offence committed beyond the local territorial jurisdiction cannot be investigated, inquired or tried. This would be clear by referring to Sections 177 to 188. For our purpose, it would suffice to refer only to Sections 177 and 178 which are as under: 177. Ordinary place of enquiry and trial. Every offence shall ordinar ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he death of Nandini or named anyone in the appellant s family especially when the father, brother and other relatives of the deceased were present at Ambala during the period when the investigation was carried on. On a correct appreciation of record, we do not find even a whisper about the cruelty meted out to her soon before her death. In fact, it is on record that the appellant No. 1 visited Durg several times after the death of Nandini and stayed with in-laws. 15) The territorial jurisdiction of a court with regard to a criminal offence would be decided on the basis of the place of occurrence of the incident. In the instant case, the suicide was committed at Ambala. The Ambala police closed the case after fulfilling the requirements of Section 174 of the Code holding that there was no foul play in the incident and also there was no requirement of lodging FIR under Section 154 as none of the family members of the deceased raised any suspicion over the death even though the death was committed within seven years of marriage. Also, there is no evidence of it being a continuing offence. Hence, the offence alleged cannot be said to have been committed wholly or partly within the loca ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ch reckless and vague allegations, Respondent No. 2 herein has tried to rope the appellants in criminal proceedings. We are of the confirmed opinion that continuation of the criminal proceedings against the appellants pursuant to this FIR is an abuse of the process of law. Therefore, in the interest of justice, the FIR deserves to be quashed. In this context, it is apt to quote the following decision of this Court in Jai Prakash Singh vs. State of Bihar Anr. (2012) 4 SCC 379 wherein it was held as under:- 12. The FIR in a criminal case is a vital and valuable piece of evidence though may not be substantive piece of evidence. The object of insisting upon prompt lodging of the FIR in respect of the commission of an offence is to obtain early information regarding the circumstances in which the crime was committed, the names of the actual culprits and the part played by them as well as the names of the eye-witnesses present at the scene of occurrence. If there is a delay in lodging the FIR, it loses the advantage of spontaneity, danger creeps in of the introduction of coloured version, exaggerated account or concocted story as a result of large number of consultations/deliberations. U ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ufficient ground for proceeding against the accused; where there is an expressed legal bar engrafted in any of the provisions of the Code; and where a criminal proceeding is manifestly attended with mala fide and/or where the proceeding is maliciously instituted with an ulterior motive for wreaking vengeance on the accused and with a view to spite him due to private and personal grudge. Despite stating these grounds, the Court unambiguously uttered a note of caution to the effect that the power of quashing a criminal proceeding should be exercised very sparingly and with circumspection and that too, in the rarest of rare cases; the Court also warned that the Court would not be justified in embarking upon an enquiry as to the reliability or genuineness or otherwise of the allegations made in the FIR or the complaint and that the extraordinary or inherent powers do not confer an arbitrary jurisdiction on the Court to act according to its whims or caprice. In para 102 of the judgment, it was held as under:- 102. In the backdrop of the interpretation of the various relevant provisions of the Code under Chapter XIV and of the principles of law enunciated by this Court in a series of dec ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the accused and with a view to spite him due to private and personal grudge. 21) While discussing the scope and ambit of Section 482 of the Code, a similar view has been taken by a Division Bench of this Court in Rajiv Thapar and Others vs. Madan Lal Kapoor (2013) 3 SCC 330 wherein it was held as under:- 29. The issue being examined in the instant case is the jurisdiction of the High Court under Section 482 CrPC, if it chooses to quash the initiation of the prosecution against an accused at the stage of issuing process, or at the stage of committal, or even at the stage of framing of charges. These are all stages before the commencement of the actual trial. The same parameters would naturally be available for later stages as well. The power vested in the High Court under Section 482 CrPC, at the stages referred to hereinabove, would have far-reaching consequences inasmuch as it would negate the prosecution s/complainant s case without allowing the prosecution/complainant to lead evidence. Such a determination must always be rendered with caution, care and circumspection. To invoke its inherent jurisdiction under Section 482 CrPC the High Court has to be fully satisfied that the mat ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he affirmative, the judicial conscience of the High Court should persuade it to quash such criminal proceedings in exercise of power vested in it under Section 482 CrPC. Such exercise of power, besides doing justice to the accused, would save precious court time, which would otherwise be wasted in holding such a trial (as well as proceedings arising therefrom) specially when it is clear that the same would not conclude in the conviction of the accused. Conclusion: 22) In view of the above discussion, we are of the considered opinion that the allegations made in the FIR are inherently improbable and the evidence collected in support of the same do not disclose the commission of any offence and make out a case against the appellants herein. Further, to invoke inherent jurisdiction under Section 482 of the Code, the High Court must be fully satisfied that the material produced on record is based on sound, justifiable and reasonable facts. In the case on hand, malicious prosecution was instituted by the brother of the deceased after a period of five years that too on the basis of anonymous letters. There was no accusation against the appellants before filing of the FIR. The allegations ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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