LAKKAPPA Vs. STATE OF KARNATAKA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In these petitions, the petitioners have sought to quash the criminal proceedings initiated against them for the alleged offences punishable under Sections 78(3) of the Karnataka Police Act, 1963 ('the KP Act', for short) and also under Section 420 of the IPC and Section 66(D) of the I.T. Act, 2000, on the ground of non-compliance of the mandatory requirements prescribed under Section 155(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

(2.) The common contentions urged by the petitioners in all these petitions are that;

(3.) In Crl.P.No.3365/2016 and connected matters, this Court followed the decision rendered by the Coordinate Bench of this Court in Moin Basha Kurnooli Vs. The State of Karnataka by Cowl Bazaar Police Station, Bellary, 2014 4 KCCR 3355, wherein on analysing the relevant provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure and the Karnataka Police Act, 1963, it is held that the offence under Section 78(3) of the KP Act is a non-cognizable offence, the investigation whereof by a Police Officer is prohibited without prior order of the concerned Magistrate. Further this Court has laid down that the provisions of Section 155(2) of Cr.P.C. is mandatory in nature and failure to comply with the said mandatory requirement is an incurable defect amounting to illegality vitiating the entire proceedings.