1926 (4) TMI 2

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....f the-village to the thana to give information. He supplied with this information a list of articles which, he alleged, had been stolen from his house. The chowkidar when giving the information at the thana did not name any specific person as being-suspected to have been concerned in the theft. Defendant No. 1, the present appellant before us, was deputed by the superior officer to investigate the case. He arrived at the village some time at 5 or 6 in the evening. On receiving certain information from Defendant No. 2 that he suspected the plaintiff of having committed the theft, the house of the plaintiff was searched in order to discover the stolen property. Nothing was found. As the result of this the plaintiff has brought this case again....

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....ndants; he further ordered that the sum decreed would be realized from Defendant No. 2 in the first instance and failing that from Defendant No. 1. 3. Against this order Defendant No. 1, the Sub-Inspector of police, has appealed. He contends that the case against him and for which he has been called on to pay damages is that the search as made by him was illegal. He argues that he searched the plaintiff's house under the provisions of Section 165, Criminal P.C. Defendant No. 2 had mentioned specific articles which were alleged to have been stolen and it was for the discovery of these articles that he searched the house of the plaintiff. This he contends is justified under Section 165. 4. Mr. Roy Chowdhury who has appeared for the resp....

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....and not for specific articles mentioned by a complainant as having been stolen from him. In this case as I have already stated a definite list of articles stolen had been given to the police and the Sub-Inspector obviously searched the house for these identical articles or in other words he was searching for specific articles. In this view of the case it is quite clear that the Sub-Inspecter was acting perfectly legally under Section 165, Criminal P.C., when he made the search he did. 5. The appeal must, therefore, succeed and the plaintiff's case so far as regards Defendant No. 1 must be dismissed. The appellant is entitled to his costs in all the Courts. Page, J. 6. I agree. In this case the learned Judge in the lower appellate Cou....

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....at the plaintiff was entitled on damages against the first defendant because the search which he made at the premises of the person against whom the information had been lodged was illegal on two grounds, the first being that the Sub-Inspector of Police proceeded to carry out a general search for the stolen property and not a search as authorized under Sections 94 and 165 Criminal P.C. As my learned brother has pointed out a general search means a search not in respect of specific documents or things which the officer considered were necessary or desirable for the purpose of the investigation in hand, but a roving enquiry for the purpose of discovering documents or things which might involve persons in criminal liability. The things for whi....