The single judge bench of the Jharkhand High Court held that at the stage of issuing summons to the accused based on the police report, the magistrate is not required to record any reason.
Brief facts
The factual matrix of the case is that the Petitioner in the furtherance of the common intention committed theft of rice which was to be distributed under the Public Distribution System (PDS). The present petition is filed under Section 482 CrPC in order to quash the criminal proceedings in connection with the case registered for the offense punishable under Section 379, 411, 34 of the IPC and Section 7 of the Essential Commodities Act pending in the court of learned SDJM.
Contentions of the Petitioner
The Petitioner submitted that the Petitioner has been falsely implicated in the present case and even if the allegations in the FIR are considered to be true then, also the offenses as alleged, have not been made out against the Petitioners.
Contentions of the Respondent
The Respondent submitted that there exist direct and specific allegations against the Petitioner and the offense punishable under Section 7 of the Essential Commodities Act is made out against the Petitioners.
Observations of the Court
The Hon’ble Court observed that following an investigation, the police filed a charge sheet against the petitioners. The learned magistrate then took cognizance of the offense for which the charge sheet was filed, based on the FIR and the materials gathered during the investigation that were noted in the case diary.
The court noted that it is well-settled law that the magistrate is not obliged to record any reasons while summoning the accused based on the police report. The court also relied upon the judgment titled State of Gujarat vs. Afroz Mohammed Hasanfatta.
Based on these considerations the court refused to quash the criminal proceedings.
The decision of the court
With the above direction, the court dismissed the Criminal Miscellaneous Petition.
Case title: Pankaj Kumar V. The State of Jharkhand
Coram: Hon’ble Mr. Justice Anil Kumar Choudhary
Case No.: Cr.M.P. No. 1460 of 2022
Advocate for the Petitioner: Mr. Rajesh Kumar, Adv.
Advocate for the State: Mr. P.D.Agrawal, Spl. PP
Advocate for the Opp Party: Mr. Master Akash , Adv.
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