Judicial mind and mandatory Section 202 inquiry are required before summoning an out-of-jurisdiction accused.

A Magistrate must apply judicial mind to the complaint and supporting material before issuing process, and a proposed accused residing outside the court's jurisdiction must be examined through the mandatory inquiry under Section 202 CrPC before summons are issued. Where the record contains no specific averment or evidence showing the applicant's direct role, administrative control, active participation, or criminal intent, vicarious liability cannot be fastened mechanically. As the complaint proceedings, summoning order, and bailable warrant were passed without proper consideration of the material and without the required inquiry, they were quashed as against the applicant.

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Issues: Whether the complaint proceedings, summoning order, and bailable warrant were liable to be quashed for want of application of mind, non-compliance with the mandatory inquiry requirement for an accused residing outside jurisdiction, and absence of material to fasten vicarious liability on the applicant.

Analysis: The complaint was against a corporate setup and a third-party security agency, but the applicant was not shown to have any administrative control over the agency or any direct role in the alleged violation. The material did not disclose any specific averment or supporting evidence establishing active participation or criminal intent on the part of the applicant. The Magistrate was required to examine whether sufficient ground existed for proceeding, to apply judicial mind at the stage of issuance of process, and, since the applicant resided outside jurisdiction, to conduct the inquiry contemplated by Section 202 of the Code before issuing summons. The impugned orders were found to have been passed mechanically, without proper consideration of the complaint and supporting material.

Conclusion: The complaint proceedings, summoning order, and bailable warrant were quashed as against the applicant.

Ratio Decidendi: Summoning an accused requires judicial application of mind to specific material showing a prima facie case, and where the proposed accused resides outside the court's jurisdiction, the statutory inquiry under Section 202 is mandatory before process is issued.

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