The Magistrate Issued The Summoning Order Without Getting the Police Report U/s 202 of CrPC Is Not Valid.

The Supreme Court ruled that when a Magistrate requests a police report under Section 202 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, they cannot issue a summons until the police submit the report. Contrary to the High Court's decision not to annul the summons issued by the Magistrate, a Supreme Court panel consisting of Justices Abhay S. Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan called out that the Magistrate must exercise discretion and refrain from summoning the accused until the police report is received. The Supreme Court decided that a magistrate may not issue a summons until the police have delivered their report, even if they are requesting one under Section 202 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The Court observed that a Magistrate must exercise discretion and hold off on summoning the accused till the police report is received, in contrast to the High Court's decision to uphold the summons issued by the Magistrate. “In fact, the entire dispute is of a civil nature arising out of a commercial transaction. Therefore, in our considered view, taking the complaint and documents relied upon by the 1st respondent–complainant as correct, no case was made in the complaint or in the evidence of the 1st respondent to proceed against the appellants.”

Brief Background of the case: The appellant in Criminal Appeal no. 776 of 2024 is accused no. 2 in a complaint filed by the 1st respondent under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Essential Commodities Act. The appellant, along with others, filed a petition before the Punjab and Haryana High Court to quash the complaint and the summoning order issued by the Magistrate, but the High Court dismissed the petition.

The case stems from a distributorship agreement where the accused company appointed the 2nd respondent as a distributor, who then purportedly appointed the 1st respondent as a sales outlet.

The Magistrate, without awaiting a report under Section 202 of the Cr.PC, issued the summoning order, leading to the appeal. The court observed that the Magistrate, without awaiting a report under Section 202 of the Cr.PC, issued the summoning order, leading to the appeal. Thus, there are serious implications for the order-issuing procedure. These orders cannot be issued hastily without the applicability of mind. The Court further said that the court is not convinced that the learned Magistrate had sufficient justification to issue the summons.

“The order-issuing process has drastic consequences. Such orders require the application of mind. Such orders cannot be passed casually. Therefore, in our view, the learned Magistrate was not justified in passing the order to issue a summon.”

Case: Shiv Jatia v. Gian Chand Malick & Ors Bench: Abhay S. Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan Date: 23rd February 2024