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Vijay Dhanuka v. Najima Mamtaj

Criminal Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Criminal Appeal Nos. 678-681 of 2014)Decided 27 Mar 2014
Criminal Appeal Nos. 678-681 of 2014
Justice C.K. Prasad · Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose

Background

An investor complained that stockbroking personnel assaulted and threatened her and her husband during a meeting about a trading dispute. The accused lived outside the magistrate's territorial area and challenged their summons on the ground that the mandatory preliminary inquiry had not been held.

Decision Breakdown

The Court dismissed the appeals and upheld the summons. Section 202 required inquiry or investigation before summoning an accused who lived outside the magistrate's area. No particular format for that inquiry was prescribed, and examining the complainant and two witnesses to assess whether there was sufficient ground to proceed satisfied it here. The fact that the order referred to examination under Section 200 did not undo the substance of the exercise; the Court did not decide whether the allegations were ultimately true.

Lesson Learnt

Out-of-area accused have a safeguard against unsupported complaints, but a magistrate's substantive inquiry can satisfy it without a particular procedural label.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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