V.Ramesh v. The Commissioner Of Police,
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS
DATED: 06.02.2018
CORAM:
THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE M.S.RAMESH Crl.O.P.No.3438 of 2018 1.V.Ramesh 2.V.Athimulam 3.Mageswari 4.A.T.Veerappan 5.K.Dayalan ... Petitioners Vs.
1.The Commissioner of Police, Chennai City Police, Chennai.
2.The Assistant Commissioner of Police, Anna Nagar, Chennai.
3.The Inspector of Police, (Crime), J.J.Nagar Police Station, Chennai 600 037.
...
Respondents PRAYER: Criminal Original Petition filed under Section 482 Cr.P.C. praying to direct the respondent to register the petitioner complaint dated 23.01.2018.
For Petitioner : Mr.R.Subburaj For Respondents : Mr.C.Raghavan Government Advocate [Crl. Side]
ORDER
This petition is filed seeking a direction to the respondent to register the petitioners complaint dated 23.01.2018.
2.By consent of both sides, this Criminal Original Petition is taken up for final disposal.
3.The grievance of the petitioners are that inspite of a complaint given by them on 23.01.2018 to the respondents, the same has been kept in abeyance without any action. It is well settled in the judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Lalita Kumari Vs. Government of Uttar Pradesh and others [2013 (6) CTC 353], that registration of an FIR is mandatory under Section 154 of the Code of Criminal Procedure if an information furnished to the police officer disclose commission of a cognizable offence and in cases where the
information does not disclose a cognizable offence, a preliminary enquiry has to be conducted.
4. The respondents are not justified in having received the complaint and keeping it unattended without any further action. In view of the same, the petitioners have made out a case for this Court to invoke its inherent powers under Section 482 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
5.In the result, the petitioners are directed to give a copy of the complaint dated 23.01.2018 to the Station House Officer having territorial jurisdiction over the issue. On receipt of the said copy of the complaint, the concerned Station House Officer shall adhere to the following directions.
1)If the information received by the 3rd respondent discloses commission of a cognizable offence, then, the same shall be forthwith registered.
2)If an information received does not disclose a cognizable offence, the 3rd respondent shall conduct a preliminary inquiry to ascertain whether cognizable offence is disclosed therein or not and such inquiry shall be completed within a period of fifteen days from the date of information.
3) If the inquiry discloses the commission of a cognizable offence, the FIR must be registered, if not already registered or closed.
4) If the preliminary inquiry ends in closing the complaint, the closure report must be recorded along with the reasonings and a copy of the same shall be furnished to the complainant within one week.
5)All information relating to cognizable offences whether resulting in registration of FIR or leading an inquiry must be reflected in the general diary/station diary/daily diary of the 3rd respondent's police station.
6. In the result, the Criminal Original Petition is allowed with the above directions.
Sd/- Assistant Registrar(CS -III) //True Copy// Sub Assistant Registrar sji/nmm
To 1.The Commissioner of Police, Chennai City Police, Chennai.
2.The Assistant Commissioner of Police, Anna Nagar, Chennai.
3.The Inspector of Police, (Crime), J.J.Nagar Police Station, Chennai 600 037.
4.The Public Prosecutor, High Court, Madras.
+ 1 cc to Mr. R. Subburaj, Advocate SR.8692 Crl.O.P.No.3438 of 2018 SSI(CO) EU(23/02/2018)