Criminal Appeal No.1171 of 2016, (Arising Out of S.L.P (Criminal) No.3338 of 2015). Case: Amrutbhai Shambhubhai Patel Vs Sumanbhai Kantibhai Patel & Ors.. Supreme Court (India)
| Case Number | Criminal Appeal No.1171 of 2016, (Arising Out of S.L.P (Criminal) No.3338 of 2015) |
| Judges | Dipak Misra and Amitava Roy, JJ. |
| Issue | Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 - Sections 173(8), 313; Indian Penal Code - Sections 406, 420, 426, 467, 468, 471, 477B, 120B, 376, 376A, 376B, 376C, 376D |
| Judgement Date | February 02, 2017 |
| Court | Supreme Court (India) |
Judgment:
Amitava Roy, J.
1. The assail is of the verdict dated 10.04.2015 rendered by the High Court, setting at naught the order dated 27.5.2014 passed by the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Gandhinagar, whereby the Trial Court had allowed the application filed by the appellant, the original informant, under Section 173(8) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (for short, hereinafter referred to as "the Code/1973 Code") for further investigation by the police.
2. We have heard Mr. Sanjay Hegde, learned senior counsel for the appellant and M/s. Zakir Hussain, Nitya Ramakrishan, and Shamik Sanjanwala, learned counsel for the respondent Nos. 1,2 and 3 respectively.
3. The facts indispensable for the present adjudication, portray that the appellant had lodged a First Information Report (for short hereafter referred to as "FIR") against the respondents under Sections 406, 420, 426, 467, 468, 471, 477B and 120B of the Indian Penal Code (for short also referred to as "IPC"). The materials offered in the FIR and the investigation by the police that followed, divulged that there was a dispute between the parties relating to agricultural land and that the appellant/informant had alleged forgery of the signatures and thumb impression of his as well as of his family members in the register maintained by the Notary (Public). After the charge-sheet was submitted, charge was framed against the respondents and they stood the trial accordingly, as they denied the imputations. As would be gleanable from the records, the oral evidence of the appellant/first informant was concluded on 03.07.2012 followed by that of the investigating officer of the case on 10.09.2013. Subsequent thereto, the statements of the respondents were recorded under Section 313 Cr.PC on 03.12.2013, whereafter an application was filed at the culminating stages of the trial by the appellant/informant seeking a direction under Section 173(8) from the Trial Court for further investigation by the police and in particular to call for a report from the Forensic Science Laboratory as regards one particular page of the register of the Notary (Public), which according to the appellant/informant was of debatable authenticity, as it appeared to have been affixed/pasted with another page thereof. To be precise, this application was filed at a stage when the case was fixed for final arguments.
4. The Trial Court, however, by the order impeached before the High Court granted the prayer made and issued a direction to the police for further investigation. Significantly, prior thereto in Special Leave Petition being SLP (Crl.) No.9106 of 2010, this Court had directed expeditious disposal of the trial. It is also worthwhile to record that the application filed by the appellant/informant under Section 173(8) of Cr.PC had been opposed by the respondents herein, who being dissatisfied with the order of the Trial Court, thus impugned the same before the High Court.
5. The High Court, as the impugned decision would disclose exhaustively examined the purport of Section 173(8) in the particular context of the scope of further investigation by the police after it had submitted a charge sheet and the Trial Court had taken cognizance on the basis thereof and had proceeded with the trial, following the appearance of the accused persons. It, amongst others took note of the 41st Report of the Law Commission of India which after reflecting on the oftly adopted view of the Courts that once a final report under Section 173 had been submitted by the police, the latter could not touch the case again and reopen the investigation, recommended that it ought to be made clear that under the said provision of the Code, it was still permissible for the police to examine any evidence even after the submission of the charge-sheet and to submit a report to the Magistrate. Thus, the Law Commission's emphasis was to obviate any hindrance in the way of the investigating agency, which in certain fact situations could be unfair to the prosecution as well as to the accused.
6. The High Court having regard to this recommendation and the incorporation of Section 173(8) as a sequitur thereof held that it was permissible for the investigating officer or the officer-in-charge of the police station to undertake a further investigation even after the filing of the charge sheet, but neither the informant nor the accused could claim as a matter of right, any direction from the Court directing such further investigation under the said provision after a charge-sheet was filed. The High Court traced the law as expounded by this Court from its renderings in Ram Lal Narang v. State (Delhi Administration), (1979) 2 SCC 322 vis-à-vis the scope and purport of Section 173 of Cr.P.C. in particular, qua further investigation by the police after it had submitted charge-sheet in a case. The exposition by this Court in Ram Lal Narang (supra) that neither Sections 173 nor 190 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 did suggest exhaustion of the power of the police to further investigate even after the Magistrate had taken cognizance of the offence already on record and that the police could exercise such right as often as necessary when fresh information would come to light and it desired to make further investigation was noted. However, while doing so, it was observed that in deference to the Court, the police ought to ordinarily seek its formal permission to make further investigation. The High Court in this perspective, observed that a further investigation could in a given factual setting, sub-serve the interest of the prosecution and even of the defence.
7. The High Court in its verdict also adverted to the decision of the Privy Council in King Emperor v. Khwaja Nazir Ahmad, AIR 1945 PC18 which stressed upon the restraint of the judiciary against interference with the police in matters which were within its province, holding that the roles of these two institutions were complementary and not overlapping, subject however to the right of the Courts to intervene in an appropriate case for directions in the nature of habeas corpus.
8. The decision of this Court in Abhinandan Jha & Ors. v. Dinesh Mishra, AIR 1968 SC 117 to the effect that the Magistrate could not direct the police the course of investigation or to submit a charge-sheet when it had already submitted a final report, was referred to as well. Reference to the explication of law laid down by this Court in Randhir Singh Rana v. State (Delhi Administration), (1997)1 SCC 361 on the powers available to a Magistrate at different stages of a case before him in the singular context of its competence to direct further investigation with reference thereto, was relied upon. It was noted as well that a Magistrate, of his own, could not order further investigation after an accused, pursuant to the process issued against him on the basis of the charge-sheet already submitted, had appeared in the case.
9. The pronouncement of this Court in Hasanbhai Valibhai Qureshi v. State of Gujarat and others, (2004) 5 SCC 347 ruling that the police had the power to conduct further investigation de hors any direction from the Court even after it had taken cognizance was relied upon to reinforce its conclusion.
10. The enumeration of this Court in Reeta Nag v. State of West Bengal & Ors., (2009) 9 SCC 129 also to the same effect was adverted to. The High Court thus deduced on the basis of an in-depth survey of the state of law, as above, on the import and ambit of Section 173(8) Cr.P.C. that in absence of any application or prayer made by the investigating authority for further investigation in the case, the Trial Court had erred in allowing the application filed by the appellant/informant for the same.
11. Without prejudice to this finding, the High Court was further of the view that having regard to the sequence of events and the delay on the part of the informant to make such a prayer at the closing stages of the trial, it was not entertainable. In arriving at this determination, the High Court, amongst others marked that the evidence of the appellant/informant had been recorded in the year 2012 when he did have sufficient opportunity to scrutinise the document in question but for inexplicable reasons did wait for more than two years to register the prayer for further investigation. It was of the view that the attendant factual setting did not demonstrate any defective investigation which demanded curation through a further drill and that in any view of the matter, additional report from the Forensic Science Laboratory had not been called for. This is more so, as in the view of the High Court, the entire register of the Notary (Public) had been seized by the investigating officer and that any unusual or suspicious feature therein would have been certainly examined by the FSL and findings in connection therewith recorded. The High Court thus interfered with the order of the Magistrate permitting further investigation by the police in the case and ordered for expeditious disposal of the trial.
12. Whereas the learned senior counsel for the appellant has strenuously urged that the impugned order is patently indefensible, inasmuch as, if maintained, it would result in travesty of justice and that not only the Trial Court was within its competence to order further investigation in the attendant facts and circumstances but also the same was essential to unravel the truth bearing on the charge levelled against the respondents-accused, the impugned order has been endorsed on behalf of the respondents pleading that the same has been in abidance of the consistent judicially pronounced postulations qua the scope and purport of Section 173(8) Cr.P.C. and that no interference therewith is warranted.
13. Having regard to the contentious assertions, expedient it would be to retrace the law propounded by this Court on the import and impact of Section 173 Cr.PC, with particular reference to...
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