Kolkata, March 2 -- In a case where the lower court "erroneously" treated a criminal matter as civil, giving bail to the persons accused of forgery, the Calcutta High Court refused to intervene, reasoning that its inherent power under Section 482 CrPC should be exercised rarely in exceptional cases.

The bench of Justice Ajoy Kumar Mukherjee was moved by the state and the de-facto complainant in the case. Two persons were accused of forging deeds and thereby succeeding in making illegal gain.

The Public Prosecutor (PP) submitted that since the allegation is serious in nature, the Enforcement Branch took control of the investigation. However, the Magistrate

"surprisingly" granted bail on direct surrender before the court with an erroneous finding that the matter is civil in nature and detention is not required for probe purposes. The same Magistrate, after examining the complaint petition, had earlier directed the police to start investigation since it disclosed cognisable offence.

Asserting that custodial interrogation is required to ascertain the truth, it was submitted that bail order was passed without notifying the probe agency and giving opportunity for hearing to the PP. The state sought to invoke High Court's (HC) inherent power for judicial review of the impugned order.

The question before the bench was whether HC can exercise its inherent power under Section 482 CrPC when there is specific remedy provided in the statute.

The court observed that the magistrate granting bail under Section 437 CrPC also has the power to direct that such person be arrested and sent to custody if required. Hence, in such cases HC shouldn't exercise its inherent power.

Court said the authority given under Section 482 CrPC is considered "extraordinary" because it allows the court to act decisively when justice is at stake.

"Such power is not the extension of powers conferred upon a litigant under a specified statute.

If such sort of practice is approved, it would encourage forum shopping by the aggrieved, which is wholly impermissible," court observed and dismissed the petitions.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.