IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH. Crl.Misc.Petition No. M-35019 of 2009 Date of Decision: 10.12.2009 Jagsir Singh. ....... Petitioner. Versus The State of Punjab and others. ....... Respondents. CORAM: HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE MAHESH GROVER .... Present: Shri S.P.S.Sidhu, Advocate for the petitioner. .... 1. Whether Reporters of Local Newspapers may be allowed to see the judgment? 2. To be referred to the Reporters or not? 3. Whether the judgment should be reported in the Digest? .... Mahesh Grover,J. The petitioner has invoked the jurisdiction of this Court under Section 482 of the Cr.P.C. with a prayer that a direction may be issued to respondent nos. 2 and 3 to register a case against the accused persons mentioned in the complaint, Annexure P2. According to the averments made in the petition, the petitioner is having old property dispute with his father- Sukhdev Singh, who had left a passage of eleven feet leading to his house as per the settlement which was reduced into writing on 26.10.2006. It has been alleged that on 7.8.2009, Sukhdev Singh and others armed with deadly weapons came and Crl.Misc.Petition No. M-35019 of 2009 -2- .... cultivated the said passage with the tractor. Regarding this incident, the petitioner gave complaints to the police on 7.8.2009, 15.8.2009 and 18.8.2009, but action was taken. Thereafter, the petitioner filed a civil suit in which status quo was ordered on 18.8.2009. However, instead of taking action against the accused persons, the police registered a false F.I.R. No.164 dated 20.8.2009 under Sections 447, 506, 148, 149 of the I.P.C. against the petitioner and some other persons at Police Station, Baghapurana. It has been averred that this is being done at the behest of a local a politician and that pursuant to the said F.I.R., he was picked up by the police on 12.9.2009 and was given beatings. He was also illegally detained forcing the relatives of the petitioner to file a habeas corpus petition No.1022 of 2009 and as per the report of the warrant officer, he was found to be in illegal detention. He thereafter made a request to the Senior Superintendent of Police, Moga to register a case against the police officials, who were responsible for detaining him illegally,but the same was not done. He, thus, has prayed that a direction be issued to the respondents to register a case against the said officials. I have heard the learned counsel for the petitioner, who has contended in the given set of circumstances and the facts which have been detailed above, the respondents be directed to register a case against the erring officials. A perusal of the material on record shows that there is long standing dispute between the petitioner and his father which has resulted in registration of a case against him vide F.I.R. No.164 dated 20.8.2009. The Crl.Misc.Petition No. M-35019 of 2009 -3- .... petitioner alleges that he was illegally detained by the police which is reflected from the report of the warrant officer. However, a reading of the report shows that he was found without his having been arrested which was explained away by the concerned police official to say that he was busy in attending the field duties, but an F.I.R. was registered against the petitioner. In Sakiri Vasu Versus State of U.P. And others, 2008(1) R.C.R. 392 (S.C.), the Supreme Court has observed in paragraphs 26 and 27 of the judgment as under:- “26. If a person has a grievance that his FIR has not been registered by the police station his first remedy is to approach the Superintendent of Police under Section 154(3) Cr.P.C. or other police officer referred to in Section 36 Cr.P.C. If despite approaching the Superintendent of Police or the officer referred to in Section 36 Cr.P.C. his grievance still persists, then he can approach a Magistrate under section 156(3) Cr.P.C. instead of rushing to the High Court by way of a writ petition or a petition under Section 482 Cr.P.C. Moreover, he has a further remedy of filing a criminal complaint under Section 200 Cr.P.C. Why then should writ petitions or Section 482 petitions be entertained when there are so many alternative remedies? 27. As we have already observed above, the Magistrate has very wide powers to direct registration of an FIR and to ensure a proper investigation, and for this purpose he can monitor the investigat9ion to ensure that the investigation is done properly Crl.Misc.Petition No. M-35019 of 2009 -4- .... (though he cannot investigate himself). The High Court should discourage the practice of filing a writ petition or petition under Section 482 Cr.P.C. simply because a person has a grievance that his FIR has not been registered by the police, or after being registered, proper investigation has not been done by the police. For this grievance, the remedy lies under Section 36 and 154(3) before the concerned police officers, and if that is of no avail, under Section 156(3) Cr.P.C. before the Magistrate or by filing a criminal complaint under Section 200 Cr.P.C. and not by filing a writ petition or a petition under Section 482 Cr.P.C.” Having regard to the afore-quoted observations of their Lordships of the Apex Court and considering the allegations that have been made in the instant petition, it would not be proper for this Court to direct respondent nos. 2 and 3 to register an F.I.R. against the erring police officials. However, if the petitioner so advised, he may take recourse of filing an appropriate criminal complaint against them under the relevant provisions of law. With the above observations, this petition is dismissed. All pending miscellaneous applications are also dismissed in view of the above. December 10,2009 ( Mahesh Grover ) “SCM” Judge