Sunday, August 5, 2012

Complaint and Information


Complaint
Section 2(d) of CRPc says complaint means any allegation made orally or in writing to a magistrate with a view to his taking action. It does not include police report.
It further lays down that report by police officer which discloses commission of a non cognizable offence is also deemed to be complaint.
Definition
Thus complaint has to do with the procedure for filing criminal charges. It gives the brief summary of the facts of the case (who, what, where, when etc) and basically explains how the facts show that something illegal took place.
Also it is the representative of government like a public prosecutor who would file the complaint alleging the crime.
Essential features
1. There must be an allegation
2. It must be made to a magistrate.
3. It is against a person known or unknown.
4. The action is to be taken by Magistrate.
It must not be a police report unless it discloses commission of a non cognizable offence.
Information
It is like a criminal complaint to 1.Police Officer
                                                          2. Magistrate
It means report of a crime given with object of setting the police in motion to investigate the matter. Hence information has got the nature of complaint but it is different from it in following regards
1. In Complaint Magistrate acts because complainant has asked him to act wile magistrate acts on information on his own initiative.
2. In complaint if magistrate chooses not to prosecute he can dismiss the complaint under section 203 after recording his reasons while in information if he chooses not to act he need not record any reason or pass any order
3. In complaint the complainant is examined on oath while in information it is not so.

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