IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Crl. Misc. No.M-444 of 2009 Date of decision : 06-02-2009 Gobind Ram ....Petitioner VERSUS State of Haryana ....Respondent CORAM:- HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE KANWALJIT SINGH AHLUWALIA Present: Mr. S.S. Mor, Sr. DAG, Haryana. KANWALJIT SINGH AHLUWALIA, J. (Oral) A communication was received by this Court from Gobind Ram father of Hari Om. Hari Om has been murdered. His dead body was recovered on 20-6-2006. Notice of motion was issued. Counsel for the State on instructions from Inspector Satpal Singh has stated that earlier untrace report was submitted to the higher officials of the Department. Now investigation is in progress. From the facts of this case, it emerges that the Area Judicial Magistrate, under Section 190 (1) (c) Cr.P.C., is competent to redress the grievance of the petitioner. File of the present case be sent to the Area Judicial Magistrate First Class who shall form an opinion whether to proceed in the present case under Section 156(3) Cr.P.C. or 190 (1) (c) Cr.P.C. Section 190 (1) (a) of the Code of Criminal Procedure vests power in the Magistrate to proceed in accordance with law when such complaint has been received and also Section 190 (1) (c) to proceed when any information has been received from any person other than a police officer or upon his own knowledge that such offence has been committed. Section 156(3) of the Code of Criminal Procedure empowers any Magistrate to order investigation as has been envisaged under Section 156 Cr.P.C. Crl. Misc. No.M-444 of 2009 -2- Section 2(g) of Cr.P.C. defines inquiry as under: "inquiry" means every inquiry, other than a trial, conducted under this Code by a Magistrate or Court;" Further more, Section 2(h) defines investigation, which also reads as under: "investigation" includes all the proceedings under this Code for the collection of evidence conducted by a police officer or by any person (other than a Magistrate) who is authorised by a Magistrate in this behalf." After this file is received by the Judicial Magistrate (1st Class), he shall formulate his own opinion in this case to find out whether any offence has been committed and inquiry is to be conducted or an investigation is called for. The Code of Criminal Procedure vests ample powers in the Area Judicial Magistrate (1st Class) to redress the grievances of the petitioner. With these observations, present petition is disposed of. (KANWALJIT SINGH AHLUWALIA) 6-2-2009 JUDGE manju