2001 JTR(SC) 12
2002 2 AICLR 717 ; 2001 AIR(SC) 2113 ; 2001 AIR(SCW) 2000 ; 2001 2 ALD(Cri)(SC) 246 ; 2001 43 AllCriC 1088 ; 2001 CriLR 132 ; 2001 3 Crimes(SC) 190 ; 2001 CrLJ 2587 ; 2001 1 Scale 6301 ; 2001 9 SCC 581 ; 2002 SCC(Cri) 1087 ; 2001 1 SLT 659 ; 2001 KHC 1836 ; 2001 4 Supreme 519
2001(4) Supreme 519
SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
G.B. Pattanaik & B.N. Agrawal, JJ.
Mohindro -Appellant
versus
State of Punjab & Ors. -Respondents
Criminal Appeal No. 18 of 2001
(Arising out of SLP (Crl.) No. 3142 of 2000
Decided on 4-1-2001
IMPORTANT POINT
Police cannot refuse to register a case on report of cognizable offence on basis of any alleged enquiry.
Act Referred :CRIMINAL PROCEDURE CODE : S.154, S.157, S.386
(A) The Criminal Procedure Code sections S.154, S.157, and S.386 govern the procedural framework for registering, investigating, and prosecuting cognizable offences. In the present appeal, the appellant invoked S.154 read with S.157, which mandate the police to register a First Information Report and proceed to investigate if the allegations disclose the commission of a cognizable offence, and S.386, which empowers the High Court and this Court to ensure that such investigation is conducted when a failure to register a case results in denial of justice. The failure of the police to register a case despite the appellant approaching the authority for registration directly engages these provisions, as they form the cornerstone for initiating criminal law in motion and safeguarding the right to pursue a remedy for alleged offences.
(B) Key legal principles include the nondiscretionary duty of the police to register a cognizable case upon receiving information about the commission of an offence, the imperative that an investigation cannot lawfully commence without a registered case, and the supervisory jurisdiction of the High Court and this Court to intervene where the statutory duty is not discharged.
Facts of the case:
The appellant approached the police to register a case against alleged accused persons, but the police refused to register a case despite the law in motion. An enquiry was claimed by the State, but no case was registered. The appellant then approached the High Court, which also failed to ensure registration, prompting the present appeal.
Findings of Court:
The court found that the police had an unqualified duty to register the case once the appellant approached them, and the absence of any registration, without reasons, was a clear statutory default. The High Courts failure to act compounded the denial of justice. The court observed that an enquiry cannot exist without a registered case.
Issues:
Whether the police are obligated to register a case when an allegation is made, and whether a court can direct registration where the police have failed to do so.
Ratio Decidendi:
The police must register a case under the Criminal Procedure Code when an allegation disclosing a cognizable offence is made, and a court must intervene to enforce this duty where the statutory mechanism fails, ensuring that the law is not rendered illusory.
Result:
The appeal is allowed. The court directs that a case be registered based on a report to be lodged by the appellant within one week, followed by a full investigation and appropriate action.
(A) The Criminal Procedure Code sections S.154, S.157, and S.386 govern the procedural framework for registering, investigating, and prosecuting cognizable offences. In the present appeal, the appellant invoked S.154 read with S.157, which mandate the police to register a First Information Report and proceed to investigate if the allegations disclose the commission of a cognizable offence, and S.386, which empowers the High Court and this Court to ensure that such investigation is conducted when a failure to register a case results in denial of justice. The failure of the police to register a case despite the appellant approaching the authority for registration directly engages these provisions, as they form the cornerstone for initiating criminal law in motion and safeguarding the right to pursue a remedy for alleged offences.
(B) Key legal principles include the nondiscretionary duty of the police to register a cognizable case upon receiving information about the commission of an offence, the imperative that an investigation cannot lawfully commence without a registered case, and the supervisory jurisdiction of the High Court and this Court to intervene where the statutory duty is not discharged.
Facts of the case:
The appellant approached the police to register a case against alleged accused persons, but the police refused to register a case despite the law in motion. An enquiry was claimed by the State, but no case was registered. The appellant then approached the High Court, which also failed to ensure registration, prompting the present appeal.
Findings of Court:
The court found that the police had an unqualified duty to register the case once the appellant approached them, and the absence of any registration, without reasons, was a clear statutory default. The High Courts failure to act compounded the denial of justice. The court observed that an enquiry cannot exist without a registered case.
Issues:
Whether the police are obligated to register a case when an allegation is made, and whether a court can direct registration where the police have failed to do so.
Ratio Decidendi:
The police must register a case under the Criminal Procedure Code when an allegation disclosing a cognizable offence is made, and a court must intervene to enforce this duty where the statutory mechanism fails, ensuring that the law is not rendered illusory.
Result:
The appeal is allowed. The court directs that a case be registered based on a report to be lodged by the appellant within one week, followed by a full investigation and appropriate action.
ORDER
The grievance of the appellant is that though she has approached the authority for registering a case against the alleged accused persons but the police never registered a case and never but the law in motion, and therefore, having failed in an attempt in the High Court to get a case registered she has approached this Court. Pursuant to the notice issued the respondents have entered appearance. Though the learned counsel appearing for the State of Punjab stated that there had been an enquiry, we fail to understand as to how there can be an enquiry without registering at criminal case. On the facts alleged, it transpires that the appellant approached the police for registering a case and get the allegation investigated into and yet for no reasons whatsoever the police failed to register the case. In the aforesaid premises, we allow this appeal and direct that a case be registered on the basis of the report to be lodged by the appellant at the police station within a week from today and thereafter the matter will be duly investigated into and appropriate action be taken accordingly.
The appeal is disposed of accordingly.
Appeal allowed.
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