Supreme Court after expressing deep concern over judicial bodies being misused for settling scores against opponents by filing frivolous complaints has ruled that such allegations can be entertained only if it is supported by affidavits and documents. SC told that the courts cannot casually pass order for registration of First Information Report (FIR) on a complaint and that any person for such acts must be prosecuted for making baseless allegations only to harass the other party.
A bench of Justices DipakMisra and Prafulla C Pant said that in their opinion the Section 156(3) Criminal Procedure Code which is for registration of FIR applications must be supported by an affidavit duly sworn by the applicant who seeks invocation of jurisdiction of the magistrate. They further said that magistrate can verify the truth and veracity of the allegations.
It said that the court is compelled to say so, as the kind of applications that are being filed in a routine manner without taking responsibility just to harass certain persons. If the applicant has sworn an affidavit it can make the applicant more responsible as he/she can be prosecuted for giving false allegations on oath.
This will help in person making the application be conscious and also endeavour to see that no false affidavit is made. If an affidavit is found to be false then he/she can be liable for stating false statements before the court and can be punished under the law. Thus it can daunt persons to casually invoke the authority of magistrate under the above said section.
A person with clean hands and who is principled person can freely invoke the said provision and it protects the citizens but if a pervert litigation takes place to harass fellow citizens effort should be done to curb the same was confirmed by the bench. The Apex court told that a copy of the order should be sent to the chief justice of all high courts for it to be circulated among the magistrates.
by Sushma Javare.