Protest Petition

Introduction

Protest petition is a representation made by the victim or an informant to the court during the police investigation or after its completion to object against the police’s closure report in a given case.

• It is not defined under the Criminal Procedure Code,1973 (CrPc), but is a mechanism that evolved through judicial pronouncements over the years.

Concept of Protest Petition

• Section 169 of CrPC provides for filing of a closure report by the police officer investigating the case if he is of the opinion that there does not exist sufficient evidence against the accused in the case in order for the magistrate to take cognizance in the case.
• Filing of a closure report virtually ends the trial however the complainant or an aggrieved person can move a protest petition against such closure report before the Court.

Importance of Protest Petition

• Protest Petition plays an important role in the criminal justice system of the country as it gives the aggrieved party an alternative to the regular process of investigation which can at times be lengthy and often unable to bring out the truth of the case.
• It allows the aggrieved party to directly approach the magistrate and seek remedy from the court. However, the lack of codification of this concept in the criminal statutes leaves it entirely at the discretion of the courts.

Filing of the Protest Petition

• When any aggrieved person files a complaint before Magistrate under section 156(3) of the CrPC, the Magistrate after being satisfied with the complaint petition gives instruction to the police for investigation.
• After making investigation, the police officer submits his investigation report to the magistrate under 173(2) of the CrPC.
• The aggrieved or the complainant in the event of not satisfied with the police, files a protest petition begore the concerned Magistrate stating his/her dissatisfaction and pray for further investigation under court supervision. At the same time the aggrieved person may also pray for future proceedings under section 200 and 202 of CrPc.
• If the protest petition is accepted, then the magistrate takes cognizance of the matter under section 190of CrPc and issues notice to the accused person.

Consequence of the Protest Petition

• Magistrate may accept the final report of the Police officer and may reject the protest petition.
• The Magistrate may accept the final report and may also treat the protest petition as a complaint petition and process it under section 200 and 202 of CrPC.
• The Magistrate may accept the protest petition and reject the final report and take cognizance under Section 190 of CrPC.
• Discretion of the Magistrate:
  • The Magistrate is not bound to accept the final report submitted by the Police Officer.
  • The Magistrate can disagree with that repot and can take the cognizance simple based upon the documents that are submitted or annexed with the police report.

Case Laws

• In the case of Rajesh v. State of Haryana (2019), the Supreme Court had observed that courts must exercise their power under the CrPc to summon an accused, even though his name is not there in the charge sheet, sparingly. It should not be exercised because a judge is of the opinion that some other may also be guilty, but only where strong and cogent evidence occurs against a person from the evidence manner.
• In the case of Vishnu Kumar Tiwari v. State of Uttar Pradesh (2019), the Supreme Court observed that not all protest petitions should be treated as a complaint petition. The court said a magistrate could not be compelled to take cognisance by treating the protest petition as a complaint, if he/she is convinced on the basis of the consideration of a final report and statements of witnesses recorded by the police that no prima facie case is made out.