With an aim to curb frivolous complaints from abusing the legal process, lodging an FIR through a court order will now require an affidavit from the complainant and a detailed verification of the allegations by the Magistrate concerned. The new rule follows a recent Supreme Court judgement, which provided this additional safeguard to counter instances of abuse of Section 156(3) of Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) — the provision which allows Magistrates to order registration of FIR to the police.
The apex bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Prafulla C Pant noted with concern how this provision was abused twice by a defaulting lender in Uttar Pradesh to frame two criminal cases against the lending bank officials. The accused loan defaulter succeeded to strike a one-time settlement with the shaken officials on the strength of the two FIRs. Quashing the two FIRs, the Bench held, “A stage has come in this country where Section 156(3) CrPC applications are to be supported by an affidavit duly sworn by the applicant who seeks the invocation of the jurisdiction of the Magistrate.”
Doing so would deter complainants from casually filing applications before the Magistrate as “once an affidavit is found to be false, he (complainant) will be liable for prosecution in accordance with law.” Moreover, the applicant will be more responsible as to what he states in the application. The Bench was of the view that Section 156(3) did not warrant “application of judicial mind”. Though the section was framed by the Parliament to protect citizens, court noted, “When pervert litigations take this route to harass their fellow citizens, efforts are to be made to scuttle and curb the same.”
In addition, the apex court also fastened another responsibility upon the Magistrate while dealing with cases under Section 156(3). Justice Misra, writing the judgment for the Bench said, “In an appropriate case, the learned Magistrate would be well advised to verify the truth and also can verify the veracity of the allegations.” The Bench directed a copy of the judgment to be sent to all High Courts, Session Judges and Magistrates.
The court noted the current situation as both “alarming” and “disturbing,” finding such applications to be routinely filed by persons whose only aim is to settle scores without taking any responsibility of the allegations stated. The judges were alive to the fact that in number of cases pertaining to fiscal matters, matrimonial disputes, commercial offences, medical negligence cases, and cases of corruption, there is “abnormal” delay to initiate criminal prosecution. Under the new arrangement, “the Magistrate would also be aware of the delay in lodging of FIR” as a ground not to entertain such complaints