Ram Swarup
Vs. Mohd. Javed Razack & Anr [2005] Insc 130 (23 February 2005)
B.P.
Singh & Arun Kumar
(With
office report) Date: 23/02/2005 This Appeal was called on for
hearing today.
CORAM:
HON'BLE
MR. JUSTICE B.P. SINGH HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE ARUN KUMAR For Appellant(s) Mr. Vishwajit
Singh,Adv.
For
Respondent(s) Mr. B.Vikas, Adv. Mrs.D. Bharathi Reddy ,Adv. Mr. Ramesh N.Keswani,
Adv.
For
R-1 Mr.Ram Lal Roy, Adv.
UPON
hearing counsel the Court made the following
The
appeal is dismissed in terms of the signed judgment.
NON-REPORTABLE.
(Sheetal
Dhingra) (Vijay Dhawan) Court Master Court Master [Signed judgment is placed on
the file] IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION
CRIMINAL APPEAL No.1239 OF 1999 RAM SWARUP Appellant (s) VERSUS MOHD. JAVED
RAZACK & ANR Respondent(s) B.P. SINGH,J.
In
this appeal by special leave the appellant has impugned the order of the High
Court of Judicature at Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad in Criminal Petition No.5314
of 1998 dated 8th June, 1999 whereby the application filed by the appellant
under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure for quashing the order of
the XVTH Metropolitan Magistrate, Hyderabad taking cognizance was rejected.
We may
notice that a complaint was filed by the respondent before the Metropolitan
Magistrate complaining that when he had gone to the chambers of the appellant,
he had addressed him and his father in abusive language in the presence of
several persons. We need not reproduce the words used but it is clear to us on
a reading of the complaint that the words used are defamatory per se,
particularly, when a vice-president of the Income tax appellate tribunal is
said to have addressed those words to a practicing lawyer and to the father of
the complainant, who was also a member of the Income tax appellate tribunal.
It is
argued before us that cognizance taken by the Metropolitan Magistrate of an
offence under Sections 499 and 503 IPC is not warranted, and in any event,
before taking cognizance the Magistrate ought to have referred the matter to
the police under Section 156(3) of the Code of Criminal Procedure for
investigation by the police. We are not impressed by the argument. The
magistrate after examining the complaintant on oath came to the conclusion,
prima facie, that an offence was made out. We find no fault with the
Metropolitan Magistrate so far as this aspect of the matter is concerned.
Moreover, since the Magistrate has exercised his power to take cognizance, the
same cannot be faulted on the ground that he had not referred the matter to the
police for investigation under Section 156(3) of the Code of Criminal
Procedure. It was submitted before that the imputations are mainly against the
father of the complainant and, therefore, a complaint ought to have been made by
the father of the complainant. Reference was made to provisions of Section 199
of Cr.P.C. On perusal of the complaint, we find that similar defamatory words
were used against the complainant also apart from his father and, therefore,
the right of the complainant to move the court and lodge a complaint before the
competent magistrate cannot be challenged.
In the
result, we find no merit in the appeal and the same is accordingly dismissed.
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