The petitioner sought direction under Section 482 Cr.P.C. for FIR registration and investigation under various IPC sections. The High Court held that alternative remedies under Section 154(3) and 156(3) Cr.P.C. are available and dismissed the petition.
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In the High Court of Punjab and Haryana at Chandigarh
Criminal Misc. No.M-6926 of 2012 (O&M)
Date of decision:29.9.2014
Harbans Lal Gupta
...Petitioner
v.
State of Punjab and others
...Respondents
Coram: Hon'ble Mr. Justice Inderjit Singh
.....
Present: Mr. Rajesh Punj, Advocate for the petitioner.
Mr. Varun Sharma, Assistant Advocate General, Punjab for the respondent-State.
Mr. C.S. Singh, Advocate for Mr. G.S. Hooda, Advocate for respondents No.5 and 6.
Inderjit Singh, J.
This criminal miscellaneous petition has been filed by petitioner-Harbans Lal Gupta under Section 482 Cr.P.C. against the State of Punjab etc. for directing the respondents to register FIR for the offences under Sections 420, 467, 468, 471, 182 and 120-B IPC against the persons mentioned in para 16 and further direction to complete the investigation and present the report under Section 173 C.P.C. within stipulated period.
Notice of motion was issued in this case. Learned Assistant Advocate General, Punjab appeared on behalf of the respondent-State and Mr. C.S. Singh, Advocate appeared on behalf of respondents No.5 and 6 and HARPAL SINGH PARMAR 2014.10.06 10:29 I attest to the accuracy and authenticity of this document Chandigarh
Cr. Misc. No.M-6926 of 2012 (O&M) [2]
contested this petition.
I have heard learned counsel for the parties and have gone through the record.
The only prayer in this petition is for directing the official respondents to register FIR against respondents No.5 and 6 and further direction to complete the investigation and present the report under Section 173 C.P.C. within stipulated period.
In Sakiri Vasu v. State of U.P. and others, 2008 (1) RCR (Cr.) 392 (SC), the Hon'ble Supreme Court has held as under:-
“11. In this connection we would like to state that if a person has a grievance that the police station is not registering his FIR under Section 154 Cr.P.C., then he can approach the Superintendent of Police under Section 154(3) Cr.P.C. by an application in writing. Even if that does not yield any satisfactory result in the sense that either the FIR is still not registered, or that even after registering it no proper investigation is held, it is open to the aggrieved person to file an application under Section 156 (3) Cr.P.C. before the learned Magistrate concerned. If such an application under Section 156 (3) is filed before the Magistrate, the Magistrate can direct the FIR to be registered and also can direct a proper investigation to be made, in a case where, according to the aggrieved person, no proper investigation was made. The Magistrate can also under the same provision monitor the investigation to ensure a
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Cr. Misc. No.M-6926 of 2012 (O&M) [3]
proper investigation.
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High Court to file a writ petition or a petition under Section 482 Cr.P.C. We are of the opinion that the High Court should not encourage this practice and should ordinarily refuse to interfere in such matters, and relegate the petitioner to his alternating remedy, firstly under Section 154(3) and Section 36 Cr.P.C. before the concerned police officers, and if that is of no avail, by approaching the concerned Magistrate under Section 156(3).
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alternative remedy the High Court should not ordinarily interfere.”
The law laid down in this judgment has also been relied upon by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in T.C. Thangaraj v. V. Engammal and others, 2011 (3) R.C.R. (Cr.) 751 and held as under:-
“It should also be noted that Section 156 (3) of the Code of Criminal Procedure provides for a check by the Magistrate on the police performing their duties and where the Magistrate finds that the police have not done their duty or not investigated satisfactorily, he can direct the Police to carry out the investigation properly and can monitor the same.”
Therefore, keeping in view of the law laid down by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Sakiri Vasu v. State of U.P. and others (supra) and T.C. Thangaraj v. V. Engammal and others (supra), this petition under Section 482 Cr.P.C. is not liable to be entertained and the same is dismissed.
However, the petitioner is at liberty to avail the alternative remedy before the Magistrate etc. as held in these cases.
September 29, 2014.
(Inderjit Singh) Judge
hsp
HARPAL SINGH PARMAR 2014.10.06 10:29 I attest to the accuracy and authenticity of this document Chandigarh
3 issues framed by the court
Whether a petition under Section 482 Cr.P.C. for directing registration of FIR and investigation is maintainable when alternative remedies exist.
Whether Section 156(3) Cr.P.C. provides adequate alternative remedy for non-registration of FIR or lack of proper investigation.
Whether High Court should interfere in matters of FIR registration and investigation if alternative remedies are available.
Colour shows how this judgement treated each authority
Sakiri Vasu v. State of U.P. and othersFollowed¶21
Sakiri Vasu v. State of U.P. and others, 2008 (1) RCR (Cr.) 392 (SC)
T.C. Thangaraj v. V. Engammal and othersFollowed¶36
T.C. Thangaraj v. V. Engammal and others, 2011 (3) R.C.R. (Cr.) 751
3 provisions across 2 enactments
Harbans Lal Gupta
State of Punjab
Inderjit Singh
As recorded by the court registry
Judgements on the same questions, provisions and authorities, from every court
