Statutory bar on cognizance under Section 195 CrPC defeated prosecution under Section 174-A IPC without a written court complaint.

Section 174-A IPC could not be the basis of a valid prosecution where the concerned court had not made a written complaint as required by Section 195(1)(a)(i) CrPC. The statutory bar on cognizance applied, and police action alone could not satisfy the jurisdictional prerequisite for initiating proceedings. Because the complaint in writing was absent, the criminal process was not lawfully set in motion and the defect went to the root of the matter. The conviction and sentence were therefore held unsustainable, and acquittal followed.

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Issues: Whether a prosecution for an offence under Section 174-A of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, could be sustained when no written complaint had been made by the concerned Court as required by Section 195(1)(a)(i) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.

Analysis: Section 174-A falls within the class of offences for which Section 195 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 places a statutory bar on cognizance except upon a complaint in writing by the concerned Court or an authorised officer. The absence of such a complaint meant that the criminal process was set in motion without the jurisdictional prerequisite mandated by law. A prosecution founded only on police action, in such circumstances, could not be sustained, and the defect went to the root of the matter.

Conclusion: The conviction and sentence were unsustainable and the petitioner was entitled to acquittal.

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