Full Judgment Text
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PETITIONER:
DR. S. DUTT
Vs.
RESPONDENT:
STATE OF UTTAR PRADESH
DATE OF JUDGMENT:
18/08/1965
BENCH:
HIDAYATULLAH, M.
BENCH:
HIDAYATULLAH, M.
WANCHOO, K.N.
SHAH, J.C.
CITATION:
1966 AIR 523 1966 SCR (1) 493
ACT:
Code of Criminal Procedure (Act 5 of 1898), s. 195-Sanction
of Court for prosecution for offences committed during
judicial proceedings Court refusing sanction in respect of
alleged offence under s. 193 I.P.C.Prosecution on same facts
for offences under s. 465 and s. 471 I.P.C. where no
sanction required--Whether proper.
Indian Penal Code (Act 45 of 1860), ss. 193, 196 and 471 -
Ingredients of-Meaning of dishonestly, ’fraudulently’ and
’corrupt’.
HEADNOTE:
The appellant was examined as a forensic expert in a
sessions trial. He claimed to hold a diploma in criminology
which he produced before the Sessions Judge on being asked
to do so. On the basis of the appellant’s testimony the
accused were acquitted. On the allegation that the diploma
produced by the appellant was a forged one the prosecution
applied to the Sessions Judge under s. 195 of the Code of
Criminal Procedure for prosecution of the appellant under s.
193 of the Indian Penal code. The application was rejected
by the Sessions Judge. Subsequently on a report being
lodged with the police the appellant was charge-sheeted for
offences under ss, 465 and 471 of the Penal Code. The
appellant objected it his trial for these offences that he
could not be legally prosecuted as the facts disclosed
offences under ss. 193 and 196 of the Indian penal code and
not under ss. 465 and 471 with which he was charged. He
alleged that the prosecution was attempting to evade the
provisions of s. 195 of he Code of Criminal Procedure. The
trial court having overruled the appellant’s objections, he
went in revision to the High Court and having failed there
as well, he appealed to this Court by special leave.
HELD : (i) The evidence did not disclose any offences under
ss. 465 and 471, but rather offences under s. 193 and 196
I.P.C. The distinction between sections 465 and 471 on the
one hand and 193 and 196 on the other is that the gist of
the offence in the first group is the making of a false
document and the gist of the offences in the second group is
the procuring of false circumstances or the making of a
document containing a false statement so that a judicial
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officer may form a wrong opinion in a judicial proceeding on
the faith of the false evidence. Another important
difference is that whereas s. 471 requires a user to be
either fraudulent, dishonest or both, s. 196 is satisfied if
the user is corrupt. it was not alleged that the appellant
himself forged the diploma and therefore S. 465 was not
-attracted. For s. 471 it is necessary that the forged
document is ’used’ by the accused ’dishonestly’ and
’fraudulently’. Even if production of the ’document at the
be best of the court can amount to ’using’ the document, it
could not be said to have been used ’dishonestly’ as the
appellant did not intend to cause wrongful gain to himself
or wrongful loss to another. Nor could he be said to have
used it ’fraudulently’ within the meaning, of s. 25 of the
Penal Code, that is to say, with "intent to defraud",
inasmuch as his intention in producing the certificate was
not to cause any one to act to his disadvantage. since he
only complied with the order of the Court. [499 H-500 D; 503
B-E]
494
The prosecution of the appellant for offences under ss.
465/471 I.P.C. could not therefore be allowed to continue.
[504 A-B]
Assistant Sessions Judge North Arcot v. Ramammal, I.L.R. 36
Mad. 387, Ma Ain Lon v. Ma On Nu, A.I.R. [1925] Rangoon 191
and Walham v. Director of Public Prosecutions, [1961] A.C.
103 and In re London and Globe Finance Corpn. Ltd., [1903)
1 Ch. 728, referred to.
(ii) If the appellant gave false evidence in court or if he
fabricated false evidence the offence under s. 193 was
clearly committed. Again when he used his diploma as
genuine his conduct was ’corrupt’ within the meaning of that
word as used in s. 196. That section includes conduct which
though neither fraudulent nor dishonest is otherwise blame-
worthy or improper. [501 A-B; 500 H]
Emperor v. Rana Nana, I.L.R. 46 Bom. 317 and Bobkhranjan
Gupta v. The King, I.L.R. [1949] 2 Cal, 440, referred to.
The evidence thus disclosed that the appellant committed
offences under ss. 193 and 196 of the Penal Code. For
prosecution under these sections, the sanction of the Court
in writing was necessary. In the lessor offences under ss.
465 and 471 no such sanction was necessary. It is obvious
that the lesser offences were chosen to bypass the Sessions
Judge who had earlier decided that the appellant should not
be prosecuted for perjury. Such a device is not to be
commended. [503 H]
Nur-ul-Huda v. State of West Bengal, [1963] S.C.R. 836, re-
affirmed.
JUDGMENT:
CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Criminal Appeal No. 90 of
1965.
Appeal by special leave from the judgment and order dated
February 12, 1965 of the Allahabad High Court in Criminal
Revision No. 260 of 1963.
A. S. R. Chari, A. N. Sinha and A. K. Nag, for the
appellant.
K. K. Jain and O. P. Rana, for the respondent.
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
Hidayatullah, J. Dr. S. Dutt who appeals to this Court by
special leave against the judgment and order of Mr. Justice
Misra of the Allahabad High Court (Lucknow Bench) dated
February 12, 1965 was examined as an expert witness by the
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defence in a Sessions trial (State v. Matadin and Ors.-S.T.
No. 60 of 1957) in the Court of Additional Sessions Judge,
Hardoi. Dr. Dutt claimed to hold a diploma from the
Imperial College of Science and Technology, London to the
effect that he had specialised in the subject of
criminology. He was cross-examined inter alia about this
claim by the District Government counsel who was assisted by
one Mr. Shyam Narain, Deputy Superintendent, Police (C.I.D.)
Lucknow. Mr. Shyam Narain earlier had deposed himself as an
expert witness for the prosecution. Dr. Dutt’s testimony
ran counter to the testimony of Mr. Shyam Narain and the
credentials of Dr. Dutt were challenged. The Judge asked
Dr. Dutt to produce all his academic diplomas and certifi-
495
cates for his inspection. Dr. Dutt produced the aforesaid
diploma and it was taken on file as Ex. P-71 to-ether with
a statement which was marked Ex. P-72. The Sessions Judge
pronounced judgment on October 29, 1957 acquitting Matadin
and the other accused. He passed strictures on the
prosecution and did not accept the evidence of Mr. Shyam
Narain. Government did not appeal against the acquittal and
that matter ended there.
On November 12, 1957 prosecution applied to the Session
Judge under s. 195 of the Code of Criminal Procedure for the
prosecution of Dr. Dutt under s. 193 of the Indian Penal
Code. It was stated in the application that "the defence
witness No. 3 Dr. S. Dutt has committed forgery of certain
diploma produced in this Hon’ble Court during the course of
his evidence and he has used these forged documents as
genuine". This application was rejected on November 12,
1957. Two days later Mr. Shyam Narain lodged a report at
Police Station, Hardoi alleging that Dr. Dutt had committed
an offence under s. 466/477 (subsequently chanced to s.
465/471) of the Indian Penal Code in the Court of the
Additional Sessions Judge, Hardoi while giving evidence in
Sessions trial State v. Matadin and others. The first
information report stated that the diploma of the Imperial
College of Science and Technology, London and the statement
produced by Dr. Dutt were forged and that Dr. Dutt had "used
them in the court with a bad motive, passing them as
genuine". On October 26, 1958 a charge-sheet under s.
465/471, Indian Penal Code was filed against Dr. Dutt in the
Court of the Judicial Officer III, Hardoi by the C.I.D.
Police, Lucknow.
The case went before the Additional District Magistrate
(Judicial) Hardoi on transfer and at the commencement of the
trial Dr. Dutt objected that he could not be legally
prosecuted as the alleged facts disclosed an offence under
s. 193, Indian Penal Code and a complaint in writing of the
court was required under s. 195 of the Code of Criminal
Procedure before cognizance could be taken. Dr. Dutt also
contended that ss. 465/471 did not apply to the alleged
facts and that the prosecution was attempting to evade the
provisions of s. 195 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
During arguments on his petition Dr. Dutt also claimed that
s. 196 and not s. 471 of the Indian Penal Code applied to
the facts of the case and that even that offence required
that the procedure of s. 195 should have been gone through.
The prosecution, on the other hand, contended that Dr. Dutt
was being prosecuted for forgery of the diploma and for
using the said
496
forged document and, therefore, the offence fell within ss.
465/ 471 of the Indian Penal Code. The Additional District
Magistrate (Judicial) rejected the contentions of Dr. Dutt
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and held that there was no bar to the trial under s.
465/471, Indian Penal Code. Dr. Dutt filed revisions
against the order in the Court of Sessions and in the High
Court but without success. The order of the High Court was
pronounced on February 12, 1965 and the present appeal is
against that order.
Section 195 of the Code of Criminal Procedure which brings
in the question of jurisdiction in the case deals with
prosecutions for contempt of lawful authority of public
servants and provides inter alia that prosecutions for
certain offences against public justice shall not be taken
cognizance of except on the complaint in writing of a court
before which the offence is committed or of Some other court
to which that court is subordinate. These offences are
enumerated in the section and among them are ss. 193 to 196,
199 and 200 of the Indian Penal Code. Section 195 further
provides that prosecution for any offence of forgery
described in s. 463 or of using a forged document as
genuine punishable under s. 471, s. 475 or s. 476 of the
Indian Penal Code in respect of a document produced or given
in evidence in a court by a party requires a complaint in
writing of the court. The gist of the provision is that
offences of for-cry of a document as described in s. 463
I.P.C. and of using such forged documents, if produced or
given in evidence by a person other than a party to a
proceeding in a court, do not require a complaint in writing
of the court concerned, but Prosecution in respect of
offences under ss. 193 to 196, 199 and 200 (among others)
committed in a judicial proceeding by a person (Whether a
party or not) requires a complaint in writing of the court
before which the offence is committed or of sonic other
court to which such court is subordinate. It is this
difference which has apparently induced the selection of ss.
465/471 rather than ss. 193/196 of the Indian Penal Code.
The former do not require the complaint by the court but the
letter do, and this is the main point of controversy before
us also.
Mr. Chari for Dr. Dutt first draws attention to certain
observations of this Court in Basir-ul-Huq and Others v. The
State of West Bengal and Nur-ul-Huda v. The State of West
Bengal(1), where it is observed that s. 195 of the Code of
Criminal Procedure must not be evaded if the bar created by
it stands in the way
(1) [1963] S.C.R. 836 at 842.
497
of the prosecution. The observations of this Court are as
follows :-
"Though, in our judgment, section 195 does not
bar the trial of an accused person for a
distinct offence disclosed by the same facts
and which is not included within the ambit of
that section, it has also to be borne in mind
that the provisions of that section cannot be
evaded by resorting to devices or
camouflages. The test whether there -is
evasion of the section or not is whether the
facts disclose primarily and essentially an
offence for which a complaint of the court or
of the public servant is required. In other
words, the provisions of the section cannot be
evaded by the devices of charging a person
with an offence to which that section does not
apply and then convicting him of an offence to
which it does, upon the ground that such
latter offence is a minor offence of the same
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character. or by describing the offence as
being on punishable some other section of the
Indian Penal though in truth and substance the
offence falls in the category of sections
mentioned in section 195, Criminal Procedure
Code. Merely by changing the garb or label of
an offence which is essentially an offence
covered by the provisions of section 195
prosecution for such an offence cannot be
taken cognizance of by misdescribing it or by
putting a wrong label on it."
Mr. Chari concedes that s. 195(1) (c) of the Code of
criminal Procedure would not bar the present prosecution of
Dr. Dutt if the offence fell within s. 465/471 of the Indian
Penal Code, because the procedure contemplates a complaint
by the court only if the offence is committed by a party.
His contention, however, is that the offence, if any, was
not under s. 465 nor under s. 471, but one under s. 193 or
196, Indian Penal Code for which the procedure of s. 195 of
the Code of Criminal Procedure was imperative. It is,
therefore, necessary to examine the ambit of the provisions
which are set in opposition by the parties.
Sections 465 and 471 occur in Chapter XVIII -of the Indian
Penal Code which deals with offences relating to documents
and to Property Marks and consists of thirty-one sections.
It is divided into three parts. We are not concerned with
the last two parts which deal with counterfeiting of
Property and other Marks and currency-notes and Bank-notes.
The first part deals inter alia with forgery, making of
false documents and their use.
498
Sections 193 and 196 occur in Chapter XI which deals with
false evidence and offences against public justice. Section
193 punishes the giving or fabricating of false evidence and
section 196 punishes the using of evidence known to be
false. Which of these two groups of sections applies here
is the question; on that depends whether the court had
jurisdiction to take cognizance of the case.
Section 463 of the Penal Code defines the offence of forgery
in these words :-
"463. Whoever makes any false document or
part of a document with intent to cause damage
or injury, to the public or to any person, or
to support any claim or title, or to cause any
person to part with property, or to enter into
any express or implied contract or with intent
to commit fraud or that fraud may be commit-
ted, commits forgery."
Section 464 next defines the expression "makes any false
document". It is not necessary to quote it her.-,. It is
divided into three clauses. The first clause embraces cases
of dishonest and fraudulent making, signing, sealing and
executing, of a document or a part of document with the
intention of causing it to be believed that it is made etc.
by another person or by his authority. The second clause
deals with cases of dishonest or fraudulent alteration of a
document in a material part after its execution and the
third with cases of causing dishonestly or fraudulently any
person who is insane or drunk to execute or alter a document
or by practicing deceit on him.
It is not the case of the prosecution here that Dr. Dutt
forged the diploma personally in any one of The three ways
mentioned in the section but it is the case that the diploma
was a forged and. false document and he used it as genuine.
Section 465 punishes the offence of forgery with
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imprisonment which may extend to two years or with fine, or
with both. Section 471 punishes the using of a forged
document as genuine. It provides
"471. Whoever fraudulently or dishonestly uses as genuine
any document which he knows or has reason to believe to be a
forged document, shall be punished in the same manner as if
he had forged such document".
It is contended that Dr. Dutt fraudulently or dishonestly
used the diploma as genuine which he knew or had reason to
believe to be a forged document and thus committed an
offence under ss. 465/471, Indian Penal Code.
499
Before we analyse these sections in relation to Dr. Dutt’s
conduct we may refer to the other group of sections on which
Mr. Chari relies. Chapter XI, where they occur, is headed
"Of False Evidence and Offences against Public Justice".
Section 191 defines the offence of giving false evidence
which is known as perjury in English Law. It consists,
speaking generally, of the making, while on oath, of a
statement which is known to be false or believed to be false
or not believed to be true. In this sense Dr. Dutt, when he
claimed to hold a diploma, if he did not, may be said to
have given false evidence. Section 192 then defines
compendiously the offence of fabricating false evidence.
The portion which Mr. Chari claims applies here may be set
out :
"Whoever causes any circumstance to exist ....
or makes any document containing a false
statement intending that such circumstance or
false statement may appear in evidence in a
judicial proceeding ........ and that such
circumstance or false statement, so appearing
in evidence, may cause any person who in such
proceeding is to form an opinion upon the
evidence, to entertain an erroneous opinion
touching any point material to the result of
such proceeding, is said to fabricate false
evidence."
The offence of intentionally giving false
-evidence described in s. 191 or of
fabricating false evidence described in s. 192
is punishable under s. 193 with imprisonment
which may extend to seven years and fine, if
the -evidence is given or fabricated to be
used in any stage of judicial proceeding.
Section 196 next provides:
" 196. Whoever corruptly uses or attempts to
use as true or genuine evidence any evidence
which he knows to be false or fabricated shall
be punished in the same manner ,is :If he gave
or fabricated false evidence."
It is, of course, not necessary to mention again that for
the offences under ss. 193 and 196, Indian Penal Code there
could be no prosecution without a complaint in writing of
the court concerned. An attempt was, in fact, made to have
Dr. Dutt Prosecuted under s. 193 but the court declined to
file a complaint.
The broad distinction between offences under the two groups
s this. Section 465 deals with the offence of forgery by
the making of a false document and s. 471 with the offence
of using forged document dishonestly or fraudulently.
Section 193 deals with the giving or fabricating of false
evidence and section 196 with corruptly using evidence known
to be false. The gist of the
500
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offence in the first group is the making of a false document
and the gist of the offences in the second group is the
procuring of false circumstances or the making of a document
containing a false statement so that a judicial officer may
form a wrong opinion in a judicial proceeding on the faith
of the false evidence. Another important difference is that
whereas S. 471 requires a user to be either fraudulent,
dishonest or both, s. 196 is satisfied if the user is
corrupt. The Penal Code defines the expressions
fraudulently and dishonestly but not the expression corrupt.
We shall now attempt to apply the two groups of offences
contained in Chapter XI and Chapter XVIII, to the proved
acts of Dr. Dutt. We shall begin with Chapter XI. The
definition of the expression "fabricating false evidence" in
s. 192 already quoted, quite clearly covers this case. If
Dr Dutt fabricated the false diploma, he made a document
containing a false statement intending that it may appear in
evidence and so appearing in evidence may cause any person
who is to form an opinion upon it to entertain an erroneous
opinion touching on point material to the result of a
judicial proceeding. Dr. Dutt, as alleged, was falsely
posing as an expert and was deposing about matters which
were material to the result of the trial. He had a document
to support his claim should occasion arise. He produced the
document, although asked to do so, intending that the
presiding Judge may form an erroneous opinion about Dr. Dutt
and the relevancy of his evidence. The case was thus
covered by s. 192. When Dr. Dutt deposed, let us assume
falsely about his training, he committed an offence under s.
193. Again, when Dr. Dutt used the diploma as genuine his
conduct was corrupt, whether or not it was dishonest or
fraudulent. The word "corrupt" does not necessarily include
an. element of bribe taking. It is used in a much larger
sense as denoting conduct which is morally unsound or
debased. The word "corrupt" has been judicially construed
in several cases but we refer here to two cases only. In
Emperor v. Rana Nana(1) Chief Justice Macleod considered
the word to be of wider import than the words fraudulently
or dishonestly and did not confine it to the taking, of
bribes or cases of bribery. In Bibkhranjan Gupta v. The
King, (2) Mr. Justice Sen dealt at length with this word.
He was contrasting s. 196 with s. 471 and observed that the
word corruptly was not synonymous with dishonestly or
fraudulently but was much wider. According to him it even
included conduct which was neither fraudulent nor dishonest
if it was otherwise blameworthy or improper.
(1) I.L.R.. 46 Bom. 317. (2) I.L.R. [1949] 2 Cal. 440.
501
It would thus be seen that the action of Dr. Dutt was
covered by ss. 192 and 196 of the Penal Code. If Dr. Dutt
gave false evidence in court or if he fabricated false
evidence the offence under s. 193 was clearly committed. If
he used fabricated evidence an offence under s. 196 was
committed by him. These offences would have required a
complaint in writing of the Sessions Judge before cognizance
could be taken.
We may now consider whether the narrower offence of forgery
of the diploma or of the user of the forged diploma as
genuine was committed. If these offences were committed
then prosecution for them could be launched without a
complaint by the court concerned. It may be pointed out at
once that it was not suggested before us that Dr. Dutt made
a false document within the definition of the expression in
s. 464 of the Indian Penal Code. In fact, there was no
complaint that he committed the forgery himself. He was
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said to have, used a false document as genuine dishonestly
and fraudulently. The word dishonestly is defined by s. 24
of Penal Code. A person who does anything with the
intention of causing wrongful gain to one person or wrongful
loss to another person, is said to do that thing ’dis-
honestly’. Dr. Dutt’s conduct involved neither a gain to
any person nor loss to another. He was asked to produce the
diploma in court and he did. It is a matter of some doubt
whether he can be said to have used the diploma because he
did not voluntarily bring the diploma to court. There is
authority to show that such a user is not contemplated by s.
471 of the Indian Penal Code [See Assistant Sessions Judge
North Arcot v. Ranaminal(1) and Ma Ain Lon v. Ma On Nu] (2).
Even if one were to hold that he did use the document as
genuine his intention in producing it was to support his
statement and not to cause a wrongful gain to himself or to
cause a wrongful loss to another. This part of the section
does not apply. The next question is whether his conduct
can be said to be fraudulent. The word "fraudulently" is
defined by s. 25 of the Penal Code. A person is said to do
a thing fraudulently if he does that thing with intent to
defraud but not otherwise. The last three words "but not
otherwise" clearly indicate that the intent must be an
"intent to defraud". This expression has given a great deal
of trouble as the rulings show. It may be pointed out that
in the Larceny Act of 1.861 and in the Companies Act of 1862
in England the expression was "with intent to deceive or
defraud", while in the Forgery Acts the words "with intent
to defraud" alone were used. The reason was
(1) LI-R. 36 Mad. 387.
(2) A.I.R.[1925] Rangoon 191.
502
that documents were divided into two : public documents and
private documents. In the case of public documents it was
enough if the intention was merely to deceive but in the
case of private documents such an intention was not
considered sufficient but "an intent to defraud" was
required. The distinction between the two expressions was
made by Lord Buckley (then Buckley J) in a winding up case
as follows :
". . . . To deceive is, I apprehend, to induce
a man to believe that a thing is true which is
false, and which the person practising the
deceit knows or believes to be false. To
defraud is to deprive by deceit : it is by
deceit to induce a man to act to his injury.
More tersely it may be put, that to deceive is
by falsehood to induce a state of mind; to
defraud is by deceit to induce a course of
action. (In re London and Globe Finance Corp.
Ltd (1903) 1 ch. 728).
There has been much dispute in recent years as to what Lord
Buckley meant by the words "deprived by deceit". These are
apparently the key words. The rest is mere paraphrasing.
Whether these words meant the causing of an economic loss to
some person by means of deceit or merely the inducing of a
person to act against his own interests has been much
debated. The House of Lords in Welbam v. Director of Public
Prosecutions(1) ruled that it is not necessary that there
must be an intention to cause an economic loss. The
decision of the House of Lords has been criticized by the
editors of Kenny’s Criminal Law and Russel on Crimes. In
Criminal Law Review 1958 and 1960 other writers have not
accepted the interpretation of Buckley J’s words by the
House of Lords, though there is some support in Modern Law
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Review, May 1960 and the Cambridge Law Journal 1960. We
need not go into that question here, but it may be said that
a mere acting to one’s discomfort or discomfiture would not
suffice. For the present it is sufficient to say that the
words "with intent to defraud" in the section indicate not a
bare intent to deceive but an intent to cause a person to
act or omit to act, as a result of deception played upon
him, to his disadvantage. This is the most extensive
meaning that may be given to the expression "with intent to
defraud" in our Penal Code and the words "but not otherwise"
clearly show that the words ’intent
(1) [1961] A.C. 103.
503
to defraud" are not synonymous with the words "intent to
deceive" and require some action resulting in some
disadvantage which but for the deception, the person
deceived would have avoided.
In the light of the above discussion we shall now see how
the conduct of Dr. Dutt fits in with s. 471. The words
"dishonestly" and "fraudulently"- are used there. We have
shown above that Dr. Dutt did not intend to cause wrongful
gain to one person or wrongful loss to another person when
he brought the diploma, whether forged or not, into court.
He was ordered to do so. He may have intended to deceive
the court, even as he intended that others should be
deceived, into believing that he was a forensic expert
(which perhaps he was not) and that he held a diploma from a
recognised institution. He did not act dishonestly. The
next question is whether he acted fraudulently, that is to
say, with intent to defraud. His intention was not to cause
any one to act to his disadvantage because he did not bring
the diploma voluntarily but under orders of the court. He
did not, therefore, have the intent to cause voluntarily, a
course of conduct in any person to that person’s
disadvantage. In other words, though he might have intended
a deception he did not intend defrauding. His conduct was
perhaps corrupt in the larger sense for he intended that the
Sessions Judge should form an erroneous opinion about him
and his testimony, as he continued to claim the document as
genuine.
We are, therefore, satisfied that Dr. Dutt’s conduct does
not come within s. 471. On the other hand, it falls within
s. 196 which casts its net wider in the interest of the
purity of administration of justice. It may be noted that
an offence under s. 196 of the Penal Code is a far more
serious offence than the offence under ss. 465/471. The
former is punishable with imprisonment up to seven years and
fine while the latter is punishable with imprisonment up to
two years or with fine.
In this connection we may again recall the words of this
Court which were put in the forefront by Mr. Chari that it
is not permissible for the prosecution to drop a serious
charge and select one which does not require the procedure
under s. 195 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. If the
offence was under s. 196, Indian Penal Code, a complaint in
writing by the court concerned was required. Before a
complaint is made the court has to consider whether it is
expedient in the interests of justice to order a
prosecution. In the lesser offence no such complaint by the
court is necessary and it is obvious that the lesser offence
was
L7Sup.165-4
504
chosen to bypass the Sessions Judge who had earlier decided
that Dr. Dutt should not be prosecuted for perjury. Such a
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device is not to be commended. In our opinion, the offence
in the present case did not fall within ss. 465/471, I.P.C.
and the prosecution launched against Dr. Dutt cannot be
allowed to go on.
In the result the appeal succeeds and is allowed.
Appeal allowed,.
505