BALVEER SINGH & ANR. versus STATE OF RAJASTHAN & ANR.

Citation: [2016] 2 S.C.R. 504 · Decided: 10-05-2016 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: A.K. SIKRI · Disposal: Dismissed
Cited by 2 judgment(s) · cites 1 · see the full citation network in Lexace
Open in Lexace · Ask the AI about this case
Judgment (excerpt)

A 
B 
c 
• D 
E 
F 
G 
H 
[2016] 2 S.C.R. 504 
BALVEER SINGH & ANR. 
v. 
STATE OF RAJASTHAN & ANR. 
(Criminal Appeal No. 253of2016) 
MAYI0,2016 
[A. K. SIKRI AND R. K. AGRAWAL, JJ.) 
Code of Criminal Procedure, 197 3: ss.190 and 193 - Commita/ 
of case to the Court of Session after cognizance of offence by the 
Magistrate - Whether Court of Session is empowered to take 
cognizance of offence when similar application to the effect was 
rejected by Magistrate while committing the case to Sessions Court 
- Held: When the case is committed to the Court of Session by the 
Magistrate, per s.193 Court of Session shall take cognizance 'as a 
Court of original jurisdiction' and, thus, it is the first time the 
cognizance is taken and any order passed by the Magistrate while 
committing the case to the Court of Session would not amount to 
taking cognizance of the offence which are triable by the Court of 
Session - Since the Court of Session is acting as the Court of original 
iurisdiction u!s.193, after the commital of proceedings to it by the 
Magistrate, it is empowered to take cognizance and issue summons 
and it cannot be treated as taking second cognizance of the same 
offence. 
Dismissing the appeal, the Court 
HELD: 1. Section 190 empowers any Magistrate of the 
First Class, and any Magistrate of the Second Class which are 
specially empowered to take cognizance "of any offence" under 
three circumstances mentioned therein. These three 
circumstances include taking of cognizance upon a Police report 
of such facts which may constitute an offence. It is trite law that 
even when Police report is filed stating that no offence is made 
out, the Magistrate can ignore the conclusion arrived at by the 
Investigating Officer and is competent to apply its independent 
mind to the facts emerging from the investigation and take 
cognizance of the case if it thinks that the facts emerging from 
the investigation do lead to prima facie view that commission of 
an offence is made out. In such a situation, the Magistrate is not 
504 
BALVEER SINGH & ANR. v. STATE OF RAJASTHAN 
bound to follow the procedure laid down in Sectious 200 and 202 
of the Code for taking coguizance of the case under Section 
190(l)(a) though it is open for him to act under Section 200 or 
Section 202 as well. 
Thus, when a complaint is received by the 
Magistrate under Section 190(1)(a) of the Act, the Magistrate is 
empowered to resort to procedure laid down in Section 200 or 
202 of the Code and then take cognizance. If Police report is 
filed, he would take cognizance upon such a report, as provided 
under Section 190(l)(b) of the Code. Likewise, Section 193 of 
the Code empowers Court of Session to take cognizance of 
offences and states that the Court of Session shall not take 
cognizance of any offence as the Court of original jurisdiction 
unless the case has been committed to it by the Magistrate under 
this Code. As per this Sectiou, the Court of Session. can take 
cognizance only after the case has been committed to it by the 
Magistrate. However, once the case is committed to it by the 
Magistrate, the Court of Session is empowered to take cognizance 
acting 'as a Court of original jurisdiction'. In view of the said 
provisions, question that arises is as to whether Magistrate can 
take cognizance of an offence which is triable by the Court of 
Session or he is to simply commit the case to the Court of Session, 
after completion of committal proceedings as it is the Court of 
Session which is competent to try such cases. On the one hand, 
Section 190. of the Code empowers the Magistrate to "take 
cognizance of any. offence" which gives an impression that such 
Magistrate can take cognizance even of an offence which is triable 
by the Court of Session. On the other hand, when the case is 
committed to the Court of SessiOn by the Magistrate, _Section 
193 of the Code stipulates that Court of Session shall take 
cognizance 'as a Court of original jurisdiction' which shows that 
the cognizance is taken by the Court of Session as a Court of 
original jurisdiction and, thus, it is the first time the cognizance 
is taken aud any order passed by the Magistrate while committing 
the case to the Court of Session did not amount to taking 
cognizance of the offence which are triable by the Court of Session. 
A bare reading of Section 190 of the Code which uses the 
expression "any offence" amply shows that no restriction is 
imposed ·on the Magistrate that
Excerpt shown. Read the full judgment & AI analysis in Lexace.