Case Facts:
Patna High Court CR. WJC No.1233 of 2011 (2) dt.31-08-2012 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA Criminal Writ No.1233 of 2011 ====================================================== Md. Ataur Rahman .... .... Petitioner Versus The State Of Bihar & Ors .... .... Respondents ====================================================== Appearance : For the Petitioner : Mr. Md. Nurul Hoda, Advocate. For the Respondents : Mr. Rishraj Sinha, G.P.19. ====================================================== CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE ASHWANI KUMAR SINGH ORAL ORDER 2 31-08-2012 The petitioner is informant of Korha P.S.Case No.112 of 2011 dated 04.05.2011 registered for the offence punishable under [STATUTE] and 27 of the Arms Act. A prayer has been to direct the investigating agency to complete the investigation of the case and arrest the accused persons in the case. So far as the question of arrest of the accused persons named in the FIR is concerned, Section 41 of the Code of Criminal Procedure gives discretion to the police officer who may, without any order from Magistrate and even without warrant, arrest any person in the situations enumerated in that Section. It is open to the investigating agency in course of investigation, to arrest any person who has been concerned with any cognizable offence or against whom reasonable complaint has been made or credible information has been received, or reasonable suspicion exists of his having been so concerned. The police is not expected Patna High Court CR. WJC No.1233 of 2011 (2) dt.31-08-2012 to act mechanically in all cases to arrest the accused as soon as the report is lodged. At the stage of investigation, the court has no role to play. In my view, since the matter is under investigation, there is no justification for this Court to pass any order regarding arrest of accused persons as it would amount to undue interference into investigation of the case. However, the investigating agency must promptly take all necessary steps, conclude the investigation and submit its report to the Magistrate concerned. It is open to the investigating agency to submit such report as it considers appropriate, having regard to the facts and circumstances of the case and result of the investigation. With this observation, the writ petition is disposed of. B.Kr./- (Ashwani Kumar Singh, J)

Applicable IPC Section: 149

Statute Text:
Section 149 of the Indian Penal Code. If an offence be committed by any member of an unlawful assembly, every other member of such assembly shall be guilty of the offence. If an offence is committed by any member of an unlawful assembly in prosecution of the common object of that assembly, or such as the members of that assembly knew to be likely to be committed in prosecution of that object, every person who, at the time of the committing of that offence, is a member of the same assembly, is guilty of that offence.