Magistrate Granting Permission To Probe Non-Cognizable Offence Must Apply Mind, Not Write 'Lengthy Orders To Fill Up Pages': Karnataka HC

The Karnataka High Court has said that Magistrate courts, while passing an order on a request made by the police to investigate a non-cognizable offence, should not merely pass lengthy orders only to fill up the pages, without applying their mind. The court said, “It is the application of mind that is necessary in law and not application of ink; it is not the flow of ink on the paper that is necessary in law, but flow of content depicting such application of mind.” A complaint came to be filed by one Vishwanath alleging that in the year 2020, after the elections, the petitioners on losing their elections sought to undermine the dignity of the party by derogatory statements or intimidating the complainant. The petitioners challenging the same submitted that the order of the magistrate granting permission to register a crime bears no application of mind, as is necessary in law. Therefore, it is not an order that has even a semblance of application of mind.” It added, “It is rather shocking that Magistrates, while granting permission, do not apply their mind and callously grant permission to register the crime while passing orders under Section 155 of the Cr.P.C.