LexSTATE OF GUJARAT versus GIRISH RADHAKRISHNAN VARDE
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A B [2013] 12 S.C.R. 930 STATE OF GUJARAT v. GIRISH RADHAKRISHNAN VARDE (Criminal Appeal No. 1996/2013) NOVEMBER 25, 2013 [G.S. SINGHVI AND GYAN SUDHA MISRA, JJ.] Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 - Chapters XII, XIV and XV; ss.154 and 190 -Case lodged by way of complaint C before the Magistrate [complaint case uls. 190 CrPC] and case registered on basis of FIR u/s. 154 CrPC before the police - Distinction between - High Court upheld order passed by Addi. District & Sessions Judge, who had set aside the order of Magistrate whereby he had permitted the D complainant! informant to add additional Sections of /PC into the charge-sheet submitted after police investigation on a FIR registered u/s. 154 CrPC - Propriety - Held: The Magistrate permitted addition of sections after submission of charge- sheet missing out that the instant matter did not arise out of E a complaint case lodged before the Magi.strafe u/s.190 CrPC but arose out of a police report/FIR in a Police Station based on FIR registered uls. 154 CrPC - However, the Additional District & Sessions Judge and the High Court ought to have specified the correct course of action to be adopted by the F Magistrate and the complainant! prosecution party, failure of which got the matter enmeshed into this litigation impeding the trial - The fall out of the order of the High Court is that the prosecution represented by the appellant-State of Gujarat might be rendered remedy less - Although, the High Court may be correct in observing that the Trial Court was not G precluded from modifying the charges by including or excluding the sections at the appropriate stage during trial, it was duty bound in the interest of justice and fairplay to specify in- clear terms that the Trial Court would permit and consider H 930 STATE OF GUJARAT v. GIRISH RADHAKRISHNAN 931 VAR DE the plea of addition of sections at the stage of framing of A. charge u/s.211 CrPC since the matter emerged out of a police case and not a complaint case before the Magistrate in which event the Magistrate could exercise greater judicial discretion - Liberty granted by Supreme Court to appellant-State to raise all questions relating to additions of the Sections on the basis B of the FIR and material collected during investigation at the time of framing of charges by the Trial Court. The High Court, by the impugned judgment, upheld the order passed by the Addi. District & Sessions Judge, C who had set aside the order of the Chief Judicial Magistrate by which he had permitted the complainant to add Sections 364, 394 and 398 of IPC into the chargesheet which was submitted after police investigation. The principal question which arose for determination in the instant appeal was whether the Magistrate could be permitted to allow the complainant/ informant to add additional sections of the IPC into the chargesheet after D the same was submitted by the police on completion of E investigation of the police case based on a FIR registered under Section 154 Cr.P.C. Disposing of the appeal, the Court HELD: 1. In the instant case, the entire dispute F revolves around the procedural wrangle and the correct course to be adopted by the trial court while taking cognizance but it appears that the distinction between a case lodged by way of a complaint before the magistrate commonly referred to as complaint case under Section G 190 of the Cr.P.C. and a case registered on the basis of a first information report under Section 154 of the Cr.P.C. before the police, seems to have been missed out, meaning thereby that the distinction between the procedure prescribed under Chapter XII of the Cr.P.C. to H 932 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2013] 12 S.C.R. A be adopted in a case based on police report and the procedure prescribed under Chapter XIV and Chapter XV for cases based on a complaint case lodged before the magistrate has clearly been overlooked or lost sight of. [Para 11) [940-B-E] B 2. The scheme underlying Cr.P.C. clearly reveals that anyone who wants to give information of an offence may either approach the Magistrate or the officer in charge of a Police Station. If the offence complained of is a non- cognizable one, the Police Officer can either direct the C complainant to approach the Magistrate or he may obtain permission of the Magistrate and investigate the offence. Similarly anyone can approach the Magistrate with a complaint and even if
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