1977 (3) TMI 183

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....d, Raj Pal and Dharam Pal, the present petitioners, are also accused in the said case. During the investigation, they were arrested on 14-9-1976. The police filed an 'incomplete challan' in the Court of the Magistrate against seven accused, including the three petitioners. (3) These applications are for the grant of bail to the petitioners on the ground that no police report, as contemplated by sub-section (2) of section 173 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, has so far been filed by the Officer in charge of the Police Station. What has been forwarded to the Magistrate is, at the most, an incomplete report. It is contended that failure to complete the investigation within sixty days, as required by sub-section (2) of sectio....

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.... Magistrate under sub-section (2) of section 173." Thus there is only one specie of police report which is intended by the above provision of the Code. (7) The learned counsel for the petitioners has submitted that the definition of 'police report', as given in the Code, cannot be enlarged under the guise of interpretation as is being endeavored on behalf of the prosecution. It is contended that when the meaning of the statutory provision is plain and clear, the Court should not be impelled by factors like logic, equity, justice and good conscience. Nor it should do so in the garb of avoiding hardship, practical difficulties or inconvenience, which might be encountered in the event of failure to complete the investigatio....

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....any circumstance as doing so would tantamount to contravening an absolute condition. No doubt there may be very hard cases where completion of investigation may be impossible due to the magnitude of the task of collecting the evidence, but any of these difficulties cannot enlarge the period of detention. Investigation has to be completed within this period and the 'police report' has to be forwarded to the Magistrate for taking cognizance, otherwise the accused has to be released on bail. (11) Unlike section 344 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898, the corresponding provision contained in section 309 of the new Code cannot be invoked as the latter provision has undergone a drastic change with the omission of the expression &#....

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....Magistrate can take cognizance and unless cognizance has been taken, sub-section (8) cannot be set in motion. (14) The next question which naturally emerges is : whether the Magistrate can take cognizance on the 'incomplete challan' forwarded by the police. The answer obviously is in the negative, because the investigation is yet incomplete and secondly the 'police report' still remains to be filed. Thus the filing of the 'incomplete challan' cannot circumvent the provisions of sub-section (2) of section 173. An incomplete report or incomplete challan, with whatever expression it may be called, does not meet the obligatory requirements of law. (15) It may also be observed here that the inclusion of the benefici....