Locus Standi in a Protest Petition: Can it be entertained after acceptance of the closure report?

Question: Locus Standi in a Protest Petition: Can it be entertained after acceptance of the closure report? [DJS 2010]

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Answer

After the closure report is submitted by the Investigating Officer, there are four options available to the Magistrate:

• to order for a fresh investigation into the matter;
• to treat the protest petition as a complaint and issue process under Section 204 of the CrPC;
• to directly issue process on the basis of the investigation whereby the closure report has been submitted;
• to accept the report of the Investigating Officer.

In the case of Mohd Jakaullah v. Noor Mohd Khan, 1992 Cr LJ 4022 (Ori), the police did not in a case take any action on the report of the complainant. The complainant filed a private complaint, and the Magistrate directed an investigation by the police. The police submitted a final report, and thereupon the Magistrate issued a notice to the informant, who lodged a protest petition against the final report. On the prayer of the informant, the Magistrate got recorded evidence of a few witnesses under Section 164 CrPC.

Then the Magistrate perused the FIR, case diary, statement of witnesses recorded under Section 164 CrPC, and protest petition and concluded that a strong prima facie case was made out against the accused. It was held that this had the effect of the Magistrate taking cognizance of the offence upon police report as provided under Section 190(1)(b).

The Protest Petitions were recognized by the Apex Court in the case of Bhagwat Singh v. Commissioner of Police & Anr (1985) 2 SCC 537 where the court observed that no doubt, the informant/complainant is entitled to notice and to be heard, nonetheless, the Apex Court has also recognized the right of an injured person/interested/aggrieved person to be heard. In such a case, the petitioner would fall in the category of the term 'victim/interested person/aggrieved person’, thus having locus to be heard before the learned Magistrate before any order is passed on the closure report.

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