Reported By: Amruta Pawar

The Jammu & Kashmir HC in the matter of Raj Kumar v/s SSP & Anr dismissed the petitioner’s petition and observed that a magistrate has the jurisdiction to order a second inquiry u/sec 202 of CrPC if the first report submitted lacks inquiry of certain allegations levelled in the complaint.

The petitioner had approached the HC to quash the complaint pending before the CJM & an order passed by him directing an enquiry. It was contended that once the enquiry report is submitted the trial court should have continued as per sec 203 & 204 of CrPC & not by directing further inquiry by SSP.

Rajnesh Oswal observed that the first inquiry was not conducted properly owing to a lack of territorial jurisdiction over the alleged area of the incident. Also, the officer did not inquire about the authenticity of the allegations concerning the duping of persons in the complaint.

Also, it was noted that the purpose of sec 202 of CrPC is to determine whether the allegations in the complaint are true so as to initiate action against the accused. Therefore,  the court observed that though the court can either dismiss the complaint u/sec 203 or proceed  u/sec 204 the trial court did not commit any illegality by directing further inquiry u/sec 202 of CrPC.

Thus, in light of the above observations, the court dismissed the petition upholding the trial court’s decision to order a second inquiry.