TMI Blog1978 (6) TMI 169X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rent women from time to time. Originally accused No. 2 was employed by him as a domestic servant several years back. However, she was being treated as his mistress. She also came to know that accused No. 2 had given birth to a child on or about 30th Jan, 1975. When she made inquiries in this behalf she came to know from the Church record that accused Nos. 1 and 2 had been shown as father and mother of the child in question and accused No. 1 had stated that he and accused No. 2 had married some time previously. She has further made a statement in the complaint itself that she will examine the representative from the Church for this purpose. She also stated that she will rely on the certificate issued by the Church. According to the complaina ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he sole intention of harassing him because of the previous litigation between the parties. It is the case of the petitioners before us that as essential ingredients of the offence under Section 494 are not even alleged in the complaint, the complaint does not disclose any offence at all and, therefore, the order passed by the Metropolitan Magistrate directing issue of process is not only illegal but is also without jurisdiction and is therefore liable to be quashed under inherent powers of this Court. According to the petitioners for proving an offence under Section 494 of the I.P.C. it is necessary that the complainant should allege as to when the marriage between the accused persons took place. In support of these contentions the petition ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tated can be true unless the prosecution allegations are so fantastic that they cannot reasonably be held to be true. See Debendranath Bhattacharyya v. State of West Bengal 1972CriLJ1037 . 4. Further it is also well settled that at the stage of issuing process a Magistrate is mainly concerned with the allegations made in the complaint or the evidence led in support of the same and he is only to be prima facie satisfied whether there are sufficient grounds for proceeding against the accused. It is not the province of the Magistrate to enter into a detailed discussion of the merits or demerits of the case nor can the High Court go into this matter in its inherent jurisdiction which is to be sparingly used. The scope of the inquiry under Se ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... onsiderations are totally foreign to the scope and ambit of an inquiry under Section 202 which culminates into an order under Section 204. See Smt. Nagawwa v. Veeranna Shivalingappa Kanjalgi 1976CriLJ1533 . It is no doubt true that in this very decision the Supreme Court has enumerated certain illustrations as to when the order of Magistrate issuing process against the accused can be quashed or set aside. These illustrations are as under at p. 1537 of Cri LJ: (1) Where the allegations made in the complaint or the statement of the witnesses recorded in support of the same taken at their face value make out absolutely no case against the accused or the complaint does not disclose the essential ingredients of an offence which is alleged aga ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 6-2-1976 and in this context she is relying upon the copy of the hospital records and a copy of the official certificate from the Bombay Municipal Corporation showing accused No. 1 as father and accused No. 2 as mother of the said child. According to her, here again accused No. 1 told the hospital authorities that accused No. 2 is his wife. From the complaint it is further clear that she wants to establish these facts by examining the witnesses. As to whether the admission or confession of the accused made before the hospital authorities or the representatives of the Church is relevant or not is a matter which cannot be decided at this stage. It is also stated before us by the counsel for the complainant that she is going to lead evidence t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Section 482 of the Cr. P.C. could be exercised, It is well settled that these inherent powers of this Court should be exercised sparingly with circumspection and in rare cases and that too to correct patent illegalities. Having regard to the facts and circumstances of the present case, in our opinion no case has been made out for such an interference under these inherent powers. 8. In the result, therefore, the criminal application fails and is dismissed. Rule is discharged. 9. For the purpose of clarification, we want to make it clear that nothing said in this judgment will be binding upon the learned Metropolitan Magistrate and he is at liberty to decide the case on merits in accordance with law after appreciating the evidence produ ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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