- (1.) BY way of the instant criminal misc. petition, the petitioner " State has impugned the order dated 4th September 2001, whereby the learned Judicial Magistrate, Tijara ordered the investigation of a case pertaining to FIR No. 122/2000 of Police Station, Bhiwadi to be conducted by an officer of the rank of S.P. or above, as also the order dated 20th May, 2002, whereby the court asked for an explanation from S.P., Alwar who disobeyed the orders of the Court.
(2.) LEARNED PP canvassed that the learned trial court committed grave error in directing the investigation of a criminal case to be made by Superintendent of Police of the District. The learned trial court exceeded his jurisdiction as such power to direct the investigation to be made by the SP vests only in the High Court under Article 226 of the Constitution or under Section 482 of CrPC. Thus, the impugned order passed by the learned trial court is totally arbitrary and perverse, which needs to be set-aside. E Converso, the learned counsel for the respondents has defended the impugned order and stated the same to be just and apt, which did not warrant any intervention. At the very out-set, I like to reproduce the provisions of Section 36 of CrPC, which reads thus: "Police officers superior in rank to an officer in charge of a police station may exercise the same powers, through out the local area to which they are appointed, as may be exercised by such officer within the limits of his station." The use of word "rank" in Section 36 of the Code comprehends hierarchy of Police Officers and division of work but not demarcating any local area indicates that Superintendent of Police will have jurisdiction extending over the whole of District. If he is an officer superior in rank to an officer Incharge of Police Station, he can under Section 36 exercise the powers of an Officer Incharge of Police Station through out the District, to which he was appointed. Meaning thereby the Superintendent of Police may exercise the power, as might be exercised by an Officer Incharge of Police Station within the limits of his police station. Merely because the Superintendent of Police is the Incharge of the whole district, it cannot be said that he cannot be directed by the court to investigate a crimianl case. When a police Officer superior in rank to the Officer Incharge of the Police Station can undertake further investigation under Section 173 (8) of CrPC on his own, why cannot he be directed by the Court to investigate such a criminal case by the Court? The argument of the learned PP to this effect that such power to direct the investigation made by the Superintendent of Police vests in the High Court does not seem to be tenable and it is found to be totally devoid of force. If viewed from this angle, the learned Judicial Magistrate is found to have committed no error if he directed the case to be investigated by an officer of the rank of S.P. or above.
(3.) IT is a well settled proposition of law that the powers under Section 482 of Cr.P.C. must be exercised sparingly with circumspection and in the rarest of rare cases. Exercise of inherent power u/s 482 of Cr.P.C. is not the rule but it is an exception. The exception is applied only when it is brought to the notice of the Court that grave miscarriage of justice would be done if the inherent power is not exercised. The power u/s 482 of Cr.P.C is to be exercised to prevent abuse of the process of Court. IT is not a provision permitting any person to abuse the process of law. In view of above, the impugned orders are found to be perfectly just and apt, and call for no intervention and the Criminal Misc. Petition filed under Section 482 of CrPC being bereft of any merits deserves to be dismissed, which stands dismissed accordingly.;