Criminal complaint must disclose essential offence ingredients; service grievance alone cannot justify prosecution under Section 203 CrPC.

A complaint based on denial of promotion and adverse departmental or tribunal findings was held not to disclose the essential ingredients of the alleged criminal offences. The court noted that the allegations did not show common intention, conspiracy, demand of money, corruption, false evidence, or criminal breach of trust, and that the repealed IPC corruption provisions could not sustain liability on those facts. Mere arbitrariness or illegality in service action did not, without a discernible criminal intent or the statutory elements of the offence, convert the conduct into a prosecutable crime. The dismissal of the complaint under Section 203 CrPC was therefore upheld.

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Issues: Whether the complaint disclosed the essential ingredients of the alleged criminal offences and justified interference with the order dismissing the complaint under Section 203 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.

Analysis: The complaint rested on allegations that the petitioner had been denied promotion and that departmental and tribunal findings supported her grievance. The order dismissing the complaint found that the allegations did not disclose any common intention, conspiracy, demand of money, corruption, false evidence, or criminal breach of trust. It was also noted that the offences earlier covered by Sections 161 to 165A of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 stood repealed by Section 31 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, and that the mere fact that promotion was denied or later challenged successfully did not by itself establish criminal liability. The decisive requirement was some nexus between the complained-of conduct and a criminal intent or criminal act, which was absent.

Conclusion: The complaint did not disclose a prosecutable criminal offence, and the dismissal under Section 203 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 was upheld.

Ratio Decidendi: Mere arbitrariness or illegality in departmental action does not, a discernible criminal intent or the statutory ingredients of the alleged offence, convert the conduct into a criminal offence.

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