- (1.) HEARD counsel for the petitioner and counsel for the State.
(2.) THE petitioner in this application under Section 482, Cr.P.C. has challenged the order of cognizance passed by the learned Court below for the offence under Sections 366-A and 363 of the Indian Penal Code rejecting the petitioner's prayer for his discharge. The facts of the case as appearing from the FIR filed by the informant/victim girl lodged at the Police Station on 17-7-2006, is that on 15-7-2006 at about 11 p.m., two persons Sunil Kumar Mandal and Nagendra Soren (petitioner) forcibly entered into her house and after gagging her mouth, they forcibly took her to some unknown place. When the girl was found missing from the house, a missing report was lodged by the members of the family at the police station. On the next day, i.e. on 16-7-2007, on the basis of confidential information, the police accompanied by the family members could recover the girl from the matrimonial house of the petitioner Nagendra Soren. The victim girl revealed the manner in which she was forcibly kidnapped from her house and taken to the matrimonial house of the accused Nagendra Soren and stated that she was pressurized by the kidnappers to agree for her marriage with another person against her will. After concluding the investigation, the Investigating Officer submitted a final report declaring therein that the case was a mistake of fact and therefore did not recommend the trial of the accused persons including the petitioner.
(3.) THE learned Chief Judicial Magistrate however, after perusing the police report and statement of the witnesses including the victim girl, proceeded to take cognizance of the aforementioned offences against the petitioner. Learned counsel for the petitioner has challenged the impugned order of cognizance on the ground that it is bad in law as well as on facts. Learned counsel submits that the police, after investigation, has not found any material evidence to warrant the prosecution of the petitioner for the alleged offences, hence, the Magistrate has no authority to refuse to accept the police report and proceed against the petitioner.;