Section 202 CrPC cannot be used for a second complainant examination after Section 200 and police inquiry, process quashed.

A Magistrate is not permitted to re-examine the complainant under Section 202 CrPC after the complainant has already been examined under Section 200 and a police inquiry has been ordered. Section 200 requires the complainant's examination before process is considered, while Section 202 only authorises postponement of process and inquiry or investigation after that initial stage. The second examination under Section 202, followed by issuance of process, was treated as contrary to the statutory scheme, making the summoning order legally unsustainable. The process order was therefore quashed.

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Issues: Whether a Magistrate can examine the complainant again under Section 202 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 after the complainant has already been examined under Section 200 of that Code and a police inquiry has been ordered.

Analysis: Section 200 contemplates examination of the complainant and witnesses, if present, before the Magistrate considers process. Section 202 permits postponement of process and inquiry or investigation, but that stage is preceded by the complainant's examination under Section 200. Once the complainant has already been examined under Section 200 and a police report has been called for, a further examination of the same complainant under Section 202 is not permissible. The second examination, followed by issuance of process, rendered the summoning order legally unsustainable.

Conclusion: The process order was invalid and was rightly quashed in favour of the petitioner.

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