Court proceedings during investigation can trigger the Section 195 bar when a false complaint leads to bail, remand, or discharge orders.

A Magistrate's orders on a police final report, including acceptance of the report, discharge, bail and remand during investigation, were treated as proceedings in a court because they involved judicial application of mind. The Court rejected the view that court proceedings arise only after cognizance. On that basis, a prosecution for giving a false charge under Section 211 IPC, where the complaint led to those proceedings, was barred unless initiated by a complaint from the court concerned under Section 195(1)(b) CrPC. The prosecution was therefore unsustainable.

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Issues: (i) Whether an order passed by a Magistrate on a police final report and orders granting bail or remand during investigation amount to proceedings in a court for the purpose of Section 195(1)(b) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898. (ii) Whether a prosecution under Section 211 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, founded on a false police complaint that led to such proceedings, is barred in the absence of a complaint by the court concerned.

Issue (i): Whether an order passed by a Magistrate on a police final report and orders granting bail or remand during investigation amount to proceedings in a court for the purpose of Section 195(1)(b) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898.

Analysis: The majority view treated the Magistrate's acceptance of a police report under Section 173, the consequential discharge under Section 169, and bail or remand proceedings under Section 167 and the bail provisions as judicial acts performed by a court. Those proceedings were held to involve determination of rights after application of judicial mind, even though they arose during investigation and before cognizance under Section 190. The view that a proceeding becomes a court proceeding only after cognizance was rejected for the purposes of Section 195(1)(b).

Conclusion: Yes. Such proceedings are proceedings in a court for the purpose of Section 195(1)(b).

Issue (ii): Whether a prosecution under Section 211 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, founded on a false police complaint that led to such proceedings, is barred in the absence of a complaint by the court concerned.

Analysis: The majority held that the false complaint directly led to bail, remand, and discharge proceedings before the Magistrate, and the offence under Section 211 was therefore committed in relation to those proceedings. Since the complaint was not made by the court that dealt with those proceedings, the statutory bar under Section 195(1)(b) was attracted.

Conclusion: Yes. The prosecution was barred unless instituted on a complaint by the court concerned.

Final Conclusion: The impugned prosecution could not be sustained because it was hit by the statutory bar governing offences committed in relation to court proceedings, and the proceedings against the appellant were quashed.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a Magistrate, acting judicially, passes orders on bail, remand, or discharge in consequence of a police investigation, those steps may constitute proceedings in a court, and a false charge giving rise to them can attract the bar of Section 195(1)(b) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898.

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