- (1.) Heard learned counsel for the applicant and Shri A.K. Awasthi, learned counsel for the opposite party.
(2.) The sole contention raised before this Court by Shri Pramod Bhardwaj, learned counsel for the applicant, is that the Magistrate was wholly incompetent to direct the police to register the case for investigation, on an application made before him under Section 156(3), Cr.P.C. for an offence which was punishable under Chapter XXI. The source of raising such an argument is provision contained in Section 199, Cr.P.C. Section 199 of the Cr.P.C. contains as under : "Prosecution for defamation - No Court shall take cognizance of an offence punishable under Chapter XXI of the Indian Penal Code (45 of 960) except upon a complaint made by some person aggrieved by the offence. Proviso appended to this provision which provides for a complaint by some other persons only if the aggrieved person is under the age of eighteen years, or is an idiot or a lunatic, or suffers from such ailment or infirmity that makes him unable to make a complaint himself or is a women who, according to the local customs and manners, ought not to be compelled to appear in public."
(3.) Thus reading these two clauses together there remains no doubt that this provision, Section 199 of Cr.P.C. intends to bar any FIR or any consequent investigation and submission of charge sheet in any Court by the police. Such grievance can be raised by an aggrieved party through a private complaint alone.;