# STAIB OF WEST BENGAL v. BEJOY KUMAR BOSE ETC. ETC. December ? , 1977

- **Citation:** [1978] 2 S.C.R. 382
- **Court:** Supreme Court of India
- **Decided:** 1975-05-28
- **Bench:** P. K. Goswa.Vii, V. D. Tulzapurkar
- **Source:** https://unisonlegal.in/judgment/supreme-court-of-india/staib-of-west-bengal-v-bejoy-kumar-bose-etc-etc-december-1977-7384
- **Pages:** 5

## Headnote

West Bengal Criminal Law Amendment (Special Courts) Act, Sections 4(1)
and 5--Scopc of-Cogn~1zance of the offences mentioned in the Act by Special
Judge-Whether it is obligatory for the Special Judge to examine the conrplainilnl ul s. 200 of Crimitwl Procedure Code, prior to issuing process.
A criminal case arising out of a complaint made against the accused Including the respondents who happened to be public servants at the material time,
for the alleged offences u/s. 120-B/379/466/468/471 I.P.C. was allotted by
the State Government through a notification No. 3165-J dt. 8-4-70 to the Third
Additional Special Court, Calcutta constituted under the provisions of the West
Bengal Criminal Law Amendment (Special Courts) Act. Following the notification, the appellant State through Ranjit Roy, Sub Inspector of Police filed
a complaint before the Special Court on 11-9-70 detailing all the allegations
against the accused and including the material facts -that transpired in the course
of the investigation of the case. The Special Court Judge after perusal of the-.
complaint and bearing the Public Prosecutor, took cognizance Of the caSe u/s.
409 /109 aud 409/34 I.P.C. which are offences mentioned in the Schedule of
the Act, and issued processes to the· accused. In the trial after examining 70 ·
witnesses, the prosecution closed its case on May 2, 1974. The court framed:
charges against four accused including the respondents and discharged the remaining two accused by its order dated 26-2-1975. Charges were framed under
various sections including SS. 409 and 420 read with l'I, 120-B I.P.C. The
revision petitions moved by the respondents for quashing the trial on March.
25, 1.975, were accepted by the Calcutta High Ciurt following its earlier deci-·
sions dated 29-3-1967 and 11-4-1975. The High Court held that no legal aud
valid cognizance of the offence was taken by the learned Judge, Special COurt
and, therefore, the entire proceedings became vitiated.
Allowing the appeal by certificate, the Court,
HELD : (1) It is not obligatory for the Special Judge to examine complainant under s. 200 Cr. P. C. Under s. 4(2) of the West Bengal Criminal1
Law Amendment (Special Courts) Act, the allotment by the State Government
to the Special Judge of a case involving of scheduled offences vests the neces~
sary jurisdiction in the Special Judge to proceed to trial and is,
therefore,
equivalent to that courts' taking cognizance of the offence. [385 G, 386 A·B]
Ajit Kumar Pa/it v. State of West Bengal [1963] Supp.
(1) SCR 953
@ 965-966, followed.
(2) Section 200 of the Criminal Procedure Code in terms, comes into play
after taking cognizance of an offence by a Magistrate. [386 D]
GopGl Das Sindhi & Ors. v. State of Assa1n & Anr. AIR 1961 SC 986, 988
and 989, referred to.
(3) There is nothing in s. 5 ( 1 ) of the Act even after the amendment in
1960 to compel the Special Judge to comply with the provisions of s-. 200
Cr. P. C.
The words "in the manner laid down in clauses (a) and (b) of
sub-s. (!) of s. 190 of the Criminal Procedure. Code 1898" do not automatically
introduce the provisions of s. 200 Cr. P. C. of Chapter XVI, nor do the above
words in •· 5 (2) of the Act, mandatorily compel the Special Judge to resort"
to the provisions of Chapter XVI. The legislature ~ the above amendment
has advisedly omitted to include s. 200 Cr. P. C. and the other provisions in
Chapter XVI of the Criminal Procedure Code. [385 H, 386 A, E, F]
(4) Because of ·the amendment of s. 5(2) 'in 1960, it may now be open·
to th~ Special Judge to apply his judicial mind to the complaint apart from)
~
'STATE OF WEST BENGAL v. B. K. BOSE (Goswami,!.)
383
.allotment of . the s;:ase in order to come to a decision as to whether he is satis~
fied on the materials laid before him at that stage to take cognizance of the
-o~ence , and proceed to .trial.
If he chooses to examine the complainant or any
witness before issuing process against any accused, there is nothing in Jaw to
prevent him

## Text

A
•
B
c
D
E
F
G
H
382
STAIB OF WEST BENGAL
v.
BEJOY KUMAR BOSE ETC. ETC.
December ? , 1977
[P. K. GOSWA.VII AND V. D. TULZAPURKAR, JJ.J
West Bengal Criminal Law Amendment (Special Courts) Act, Sections 4(1)
and 5--Scopc of-Cogn~1zance of the offences mentioned in the Act by Special
Judge-Whether it is obligatory for the Special Judge to examine the conrplainilnl ul s. 200 of Crimitwl Procedure Code, prior to issuing process.
A criminal case arising out of a complaint made against the accused Including the respondents who happened to be public servants at the material time,
for the alleged offences u/s. 120-B/379/466/468/471 I.P.C. was allotted by
the State Government through a notification No. 3165-J dt. 8-4-70 to the Third
Additional Special Court, Calcutta constituted under the provisions of the West
Bengal Criminal Law Amendment (Special Courts) Act. Following the notification, the appellant State through Ranjit Roy, Sub Inspector of Police filed
a complaint before the Special Court on 11-9-70 detailing all the allegations
against the accused and including the material facts -that transpired in the course
of the investigation of the case. The Special Court Judge after perusal of the-.
complaint and bearing the Public Prosecutor, took cognizance Of the caSe u/s.
409 /109 aud 409/34 I.P.C. which are offences mentioned in the Schedule of
the Act, and issued processes to the· accused. In the trial after examining 70 ·
witnesses, the prosecution closed its case on May 2, 1974. The court framed:
charges against four accused including the respondents and discharged the remaining two accused by its order dated 26-2-1975. Charges were framed under
various sections including SS. 409 and 420 read with l'I, 120-B I.P.C. The
revision petitions moved by the respondents for quashing the trial on March.
25, 1.975, were accepted by the Calcutta High Ciurt following its earlier deci-·
sions dated 29-3-1967 and 11-4-1975. The High Court held that no legal aud
valid cognizance of the offence was taken by the learned Judge, Special COurt
and, therefore, the entire proceedings became vitiated.
Allowing the appeal by certificate, the Court,
HELD : (1) It is not obligatory for the Special Judge to examine complainant under s. 200 Cr. P. C. Under s. 4(2) of the West Bengal Criminal1
Law Amendment (Special Courts) Act, the allotment by the State Government
to the Special Judge of a case involving of scheduled offences vests the neces~
sary jurisdiction in the Special Judge to proceed to trial and is,
therefore,
equivalent to that courts' taking cognizance of the offence. [385 G, 386 A·B]
Ajit Kumar Pa/it v. State of West Bengal [1963] Supp.
(1) SCR 953
@ 965-966, followed.
(2) Section 200 of the Criminal Procedure Code in terms, comes into play
after taking cognizance of an offence by a Magistrate. [386 D]
GopGl Das Sindhi & Ors. v. State of Assa1n & Anr. AIR 1961 SC 986, 988
and 989, referred to.
(3) There is nothing in s. 5 ( 1 ) of the Act even after the amendment in
1960 to compel the Special Judge to comply with the provisions of s-. 200
Cr. P. C.
The words "in the manner laid down in clauses (a) and (b) of
sub-s. (!) of s. 190 of the Criminal Procedure. Code 1898" do not automatically
introduce the provisions of s. 200 Cr. P. C. of Chapter XVI, nor do the above
words in •· 5 (2) of the Act, mandatorily compel the Special Judge to resort"
to the provisions of Chapter XVI. The legislature ~ the above amendment
has advisedly omitted to include s. 200 Cr. P. C. and the other provisions in
Chapter XVI of the Criminal Procedure Code. [385 H, 386 A, E, F]
(4) Because of ·the amendment of s. 5(2) 'in 1960, it may now be open·
to th~ Special Judge to apply his judicial mind to the complaint apart from)
~
'STATE OF WEST BENGAL v. B. K. BOSE (Goswami,!.)
383
.allotment of . the s;:ase in order to come to a decision as to whether he is satis~
fied on the materials laid before him at that stage to take cognizance of the
-o~ence , and proceed to .trial.
If he chooses to examine the complainant or any
witness before issuing process against any accused, there is nothing in Jaw to
prevent him from doing so.
If he does not do so and is satisfied on perusal
-0~ the complaint after allotment of the case by the Government that an offence
has b.een disclosed against definite persons, no valid objection could be taken
against his taking cognizance on the written complaint without complying with
the provisions of s. 200 Criminal Procedure Code. No grievance can be made
then that the Special Judge has not examined the complainant under section
200, Cr. P. C. period to issuing of process.
[386 B·D]
Sudhir Chandra Bhattachariee v. The State Cr/. Appeals Nos. 23-26 o(
1961 (decided on 29th March 1967, Calcutta) and Shyama Saran Das Gupta v.
The State (decided on !Ith April 1975, Calcutta) over-ruled.
A
B
CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Criminal Appeal Nos, 109-
(l
111of1977.
From the Judgment and Order dated 28-5··1975 of the Calcutta High
·Court in Criminal Revision Nos. 304, 371 and 318/75 respectively.
A. P. Chatterjee, G. C. Chatterjee and Mrs. Mukti Moitra for the
..,
Appellants in all the appeals.
'-....,, ..
A. K. Sen, Miss Uma Bannerjee and S, Swarup for Respondent in
D
Cr!. A No. 611 of 1977,
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
GosWAMI, J. CThese appeals by certificate are from the common • E
judgment of the
alcutta High Court of 28th May, 1975 disposing
of three Criminal Misc. Revisions Nos. 304, 318 and 371 of 1975.
There is a common quemon of law and will be disposed of by this
judgment.
Briefly the facts are as follows :
A complaint was made against the accused by Shri J. F. C. Mc.
Mohan, Dock Manager, Calcntta Port Commissioners, to the South
Port Police Station alleging offences under Sections 120-B/420/379/
466/468/471. IP.C. against several accused including the respondents
who happened to be public: servants at the material time, The State
Government issued a Notification No. 3165-.J on 8-4-1970 under
Section 4 of the West Bengal Criminal Law Amendment
(Special
Courts) Act (hereinafter referred to as the Act) allotting the said case
for trial to the Third. Additional Special Court, Calcutta constituted
under the provisions of the said Act for trial of the offences mentioned
in the· schedule to that Act. There is no dispute about the particular
order of allotment of the case to the Special Court under the said Act.
Folio.wing the Notification of April 8, 1970 the State of West Bengal
through Ranajit Roy, Snb-Jnspector of Police, filed a complaint before
the Third Additional Special Court, CalcuttaJ on 11-9-1970 detailing all
the allegations against the accused and indicating the material facts that
transpired in the course of thei invostigation of the case.
The Special
Court J u<lge after perusal of the complaint and hearing the Public
ProSC1:Utor took cognizanc:e of the case under Section1 409 /109 and
409 /34, I.P.C. which ate offe!lC!li m011tioned in the schedule of th•
F
G
H
A
B
c
D
E
F
G
H
384
SUPREME COURT REPORTS
[1978] 2 S.C.R.
Act. The learned Jndge thereupon issued processes against the respondent and other accused.. In due conrse trial commenced. The prosecution after examining 7" witnesses closed its case on May 2, 1974,
The Court framed charges against four accused including the respondent
and discharged the remaining two accused by a lengthy order with
reasons on 26-2-1975.
Charges were framed under various sections.
including Sections 409 & 420 read with 120-B, I.P.C.
. The respondent moved the Calcutta High Court in revisioa for
~
quashing the trial on March 25, 1975.
The High Court allowed the
Petition on 28th of May, 1975 and grant.eel certificate to appeal to this
Court under Article 134 (I) ( c) of the Constitution on March 26, 1976.
~
Hence these appeals.
The High Court accepted the contention of the respondoot that no
legal and valid cognizance of the offence was taken by the learned Jndge,
Special Court and, therefore, the entire proceedings became vitiat.ed
and hence were quashed. The. High Court in disposing of the matte.-
in this way followed two earlier Division Bench decisions of the said
Court in Sudhir Chandra Bhattacharjee vs. The State, Criminal Appeals
Nos. 23 to 26 of 1961 decided on 29th March, 1967 and Sftyama Saran
Das Gupta vs. The State, decided on 11th April, 1975.
The question that falls for decision in these appeals relates to the
cognizance of the offences by the Special Jndge. .under the Act.
A~ the
preamble shows, the Act provides for too more speedy trial-and more
effective punishment of certain offences specified in the schedule thereto.
Section 4( 1) of the Act provide.~ that notwithstanding anything con- -
tained ·in the Code of Criminal Procedure 1898 or in any 0U1ec liiw,
the offences specified in the schedule shall be triable by Special Courts
only : Provided that when trying any case a Special Court may also
try any offence other than an offence specified in the schedule, with
which the accnsed may under the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898,
be charged with the same trial.
There is, however, 110 dispute that
the offences charged are exclusively triablB by the Special Court.
Section 5 of the Act which is material for onr purpose may be read :
"A Special Court may take cognizance of offences, in the
marmer laid down in clauses (a) & (b) of sub-se.ction ( l)
of Section 190 of Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 without
the accnsed being committed to his Court fOr trial, and in
trying the accused persons, shall follow the procedure pres"
cribed by the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898, for the trial
of warrant cases by Magistrates, instituted otherwise than Oft
a police report."
This Section underwent some changes by two amendments in 1956 and·
1960.
Prior to the amendments, Section 5 (1) did not contain the
words "in the manner laid down in clauses (a) & (b) of sub-section (I)
of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898" and the words "instituted
otherwise than on a notice renort."
We are not concemed in tbei;e.
appeals with the amendment of 1956 by which the words "instituted·
otherwise than on a police report'' were inserted.
I
STATE OF WEST BENGAL v. B. K. BOSE (Goswami, !.)
385
It may be of interest to nota that in a case under the unamended
section before the Special Court this Court had to deal with the question
of cognizance canvassed before it in Ajit Kumar Pah't vs. State of West
Bengal(').
This Court held on the terms of the provisions of the unamended section 5(1) of the Act as follows :-
"The word "cognizance" has no esoteric or mystic signi-
. ficance in criminal law or procedure. It merely means--
become aware of and when used with reference to a Court
or Judge, to take notic2 of judicially. It was stated in
Gopal Marwari v. Emperor( 2) by the learned Judges of the
Patna High Court in a pass11ge quoted with approval by this
Court in R. R. Chari v. State of Uttar Pradesh(") that the
word, 'cognizance' was used in the Code to indicate the point
when the Magistrate or Judge takes judicial notice of an
offence and th&t it was a word of indefinite import, and is
not perhaps always used in exactly the same sense.
As
observed in Emperor v. Sourindra Mohan Chuckcrbutty('),
"taking cogniz.allce does not involve any formal action; or
indeed action of any kind, but occurs as soon as a Magistrate,
as such, applies his mind to the suspected commission of an
offence." ...... It appears to us therefore that as soon: as a
special judge receives the orders of allotment of the calle
passed by the State Government it becomes vested witk
jurisdiction to try the case and when lt receives the record
from the Government it can apply its mind and issue notice
to the accused and thus start the trial. of the proceedings
assigned to it by the State Gov611Ulloo.t."
The above decision of this Court could have concluded the matt«,
but it is pointed out by Mr. A. K. Sen, appearing on beha.lf of the
·respondent that in view of the amendment of: Section 5 ( 1) of the Act
by the West Bengal Act XXIV of 1960 introducing the words "in, the
manner laid down in clauses (a) and (b) of sub-section (I) of Section
190 of the Code of Criminal ProcedW'e, 1898", the legal position has
completely changed.
He submits that it is now obligatory for the
Special Judge to examine the complainant wider Seeton 200, Cr.P.C.
prior to taking cognizance of the offence.
Since in the present case,
proceeds the argument of Mr. Sen, the Special Judge took cognizanoo
merely on the complaint of the Sub-Inspector of Police without proceedin)! in accordance with Section 200, Cr.P.C., the entire proceeding.~ are
vitiated.
We are unable to accede to. the above submission of Ml'. Sen.
It is
true that the amendment has introduced the manner of taking oognfaance
in a=dance with Section 190(1) (.a) & (b). Cr. P.C. appearing in
Chapter XV of the Criminal Procedure Code, 11$98, but the legislature in
this ruuendh1ent, at the samn time, has advisedly omitted to include
(l) [1963] Supp. (I) S.C.R .. 953 at 965-966.
(2) A.l.R. 1943 Pat. 245.
(3) {1951'] S.C.R, 312, 320.
(4) [1910] 1.L.R. 37 Cal. 412, 416.
A
B .
c
n, •
E
F
G.
H:
B
c
·D
E
F
G
H
386
SUPREME COURT REPORTS
[1978] 2 S.C.R.
Section 200, Cr.P.C. and the oilier provisions of the next Chapter which
is Chapter XVI dealing with "complaints to Magistrates".
It is clear that under Section 4(2) of .the Act, the allotment by
the State Government to the Special Judge of a case involving of
scheduled offences vests the necessary jurisdiction in,· the Special Judge
to proceed to trial and is, therefore, equivalent to that Court's taking
cognizance of the offence (See Ajit Kuma1' Pa/it's case (Supra). Because
of the amendment of Section 5 (2) in 1960, it may be now open to
the Special Judge to apply his judicial mind to the complaint apart from
allotment of the case in order to come to a decision as to whether he
is satisfied on the materials laid before him at that stage to take cngni- ·
zance of the offence and proceed to trial.
If he chooses to examine the
complainant' or any witnesses before issuing process against any accused,
there is nothing in law to prevent him from doing so. If he doe not
do so and is satisfied on perusal of the complaint after allotment of the
case by the Government that an offence has been disclosed against
definite persons, no valid objection could bti taken against his taking
cognizance on the written complaint without complying with the provision of Section 200;Cr.P.C.
No grievance can be made then that the
Special Judge has not examined the complainant under Section '.!00,
Cr.P.C. prior to issuing of process.
Section 200, Cc.P.C., in terms, comes into play after taking cognizance of an offence by a Magistrate (See Gopal Das Sina/ii and othe,.s v.
State of Assam and another('). There is, therefore, i10 merit in the
5ubmission that taking cognizance of the offence in this case is invalid
for which thel whole trial is vitiated.
The words "in.the manner laid down in clauses {a) and (b) of Sub5ection (1) of Section 190 of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1898" do
not automatically introduce the provisions of Section 200, cr.P.C. of
Chapter XVI, nor do the above words in Section 5(2)
of the Act
mandatorily compel the Special Judge to resort to the provisiom of
Chapter XVI.
Apart from this, Chapter XVI in terms refers to "complaints to
Magistrates" and thereby excludes Special Judges who are to be guided
by the special provisions of the specW Act in the matters provided
therein.
There is nothing in Section 5 ( 1) of the Act even after the
amendment in 1960 to compel the Special Judge to comply witll the
provisions of Section 200, Cr.P .C.
The objection of the rei:pondents to the trial i• on the •core of the
invalidity of the cognizance taken by the Special Judge on perusal of
the written complaint after allotment of the case by the Government
for the sole reason that the complainant had not bee!1i examined under
Section 200, Cr.P.C. prior to issuing of process.
The objection is
dearly untenable for the reasons given above.
The appeals are, therefore, allowed and th6 judgment of the Hirh
Coort is set aside.
Since the case is an old one, trial before the Special
Judge shall be expedited:
i.R.
Jf.pp~lils arlowed.
(1) A.I.R. 1961 S.C., 986, ~88 & 989.
I
>
I ' r