Private Complaint _ Absence of a complaint to the police

1) Complaint made directly before a Magistrate _ Absence of a complaint to the police _ As a normal proposition of law, invocation of the provisions of Section 154 in its entirety should be treated as a condition precedent to invocation of the powers of the Court u/s 156(3) _ Complainants should have invoked the provisions of Section 154 before invoking the powers of the Court u/s. 156(3) _ However there can be exceptions where the facts and circumstances of the case justify directly approaching the Court by the complainant _ There can be cases where strict compliance to the provisions of Section 154(1) and (3) in their entirety may not be insisted upon by the Court _ There could be cases where the police fail to act instantly and the facts of the case show that there is possibility of the evidence of commission of the offence being destroyed and/or tampered with or an applicant could approach the Magistrate under Section 156(3) directly by way of an exception as the Legislature has vested wide discretion in the Magistrate.
2) Maintainability of complaint before a Magistrate praying only for an action u/s 156(3) without filing a complaint within the meaning of Section 2(d) _ Petition u/s 156(3) cannot be strictly construed as a complaint in terms of Section 2(d) _ Rule of pleadings is not strictly applicable to a petition or an application u/s 156(3) _ Absence of a specific or improperly worded prayer or lack of complete and definite details would not prove fatal to a petition u/s 156(3) in so far as it states facts constituting ingredients of a cognizable offence _ Such petition would be maintainable before the Magistrate.
Panchabhai Popotbhai Butani & ors. Vs. State of Maharashtra & ors. (FULL BENCH) 2010 (2) LJSOFT 39