LI Network
Published on: November 15, 2023 at 16:33 IST
The Supreme Court clarified that a Judicial Magistrate cannot entertain a protest petition against an order taking cognizance of a final report.
The ruling, delivered by Justices Abhay S Oka and Pankaj Mithal, addressed a case where a Chief Judicial Magistrate took cognizance of an accused for murder based on a final report filed by the Crime Investigation Department.
The legal dispute arose when the victim’s father filed a protest petition, objecting to the Magistrate’s decision not to take cognizance against other accused individuals. Subsequently, the Chief Judicial Magistrate issued a further order on November 3, taking cognizance against the other accused persons. Dissatisfied with this action, the accused parties appealed to the High Court under Section 482 CrPC. Following the rejection of their petition by the High Court, they escalated the matter to the Supreme Court.
In their plea before the Supreme Court, the appellants argued that the precedent in Nupur Talwar vs. CBI and Anr (2012), cited by the High Court, was irrelevant to their case.
They contended that Nupur Talwar pertained to a Magistrate’s authority to take cognizance of a protest petition against a closure report filed by the investigating agency.
The Supreme Court concurred with the appellants’ argument, expressing surprise at the Magistrate’s decision to entertain a protest petition against an earlier order taking cognizance. The Court emphasized that a Magistrate lacks the authority to modify a previous order of cognizance.
The judgment stated, “The order dated 3rd November 2009 amounts to modification of the earlier order dated 9th April 2009, which was not permissible as there is no power conferred on the learned Judicial Magistrate to modify an earlier order of taking cognizance.”
The Court clarified that the scenario in Nupur Talwar was fundamentally different, ultimately setting aside the subsequent order passed by the Chief Judicial Magistrate taking cognizance against the appellants. The case is titled “Ramakant Singh and others v. The State of Jharkhand and another.”
