Jharkhand High Court: Sanjay Kumar Dwivedi, J. dismissed the petition being devoid of merits.
The instant writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India was filed for direction upon the respondents to lodge F.I.R. on the basis of written complaint made by the petitioner.
Counsel for the petitioner Mr. Afaque Rashidi submitted that submits that it is right of the petitioner to lodge F.I.R. and the respondents are liable to lodge F.I.R, which has not been done in the hand in hand.
Counsel for respondents Ms. Shivani Kapoor submitted that filing application under Article 226 of the Constitution is not an appropriate remedy. She submits that a proceeding under Section 107 CrPC has already been initiated. He submits that in this type of cases there is remedy under Code of Criminal Procedure. He submits that if an FIR has not been registered, proposed informant should approach before the Magistrate in terms of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
The Court relied on judgment Sakiri Vasu v. State of Uttar Pradesh, (2008) 2 SCC 409 wherein it was held “the Magistrate has very wide powers to direct registration of an FIR and to ensure a proper investigation and for this purpose he can monitor the investigation to ensure that the investigation is done properly (though he cannot investigate himself). The High Court should discourage the practice of filing a writ petition or petition under Section 482 Cr.P.C simply because a person has a grievance that his FIR has not been registered by the police, or after being registered, proper investigation has not been done by the police”
The Court further observed that if police is not registering the FIR, the remedy lies with the complainant to approach the Magistrate in terms of Code of Criminal Procedure. This alternative remedy is available to the complainant.
The Court held “since an alternative remedy is available to the petitioner, the Court is not inclined to exercise its power under Article 226 of the Constitution of India.”
[Agha Sahnawaz v. State of Jharkhand, 2021 SCC OnLine Jhar 330, decided on 08-04-2021]
Arunima Bose, Editorial Assistant has reported this brief.
