Nitish Banka

    • Protest petition and 498a

    What is protest petition?

    There is no mention of protest petition in CrPC and no defination of protest petition is there.

    Now a protest petition is a say of the informant or complainant in a police investigation. Now if there is some fault in the police investigation the complainant/ informant can file protest petition.

    Now in criminal case when police file a False Report despite there is evidence which was overlooked by the investigating officer the complainant can tell the magistrate by way of protest petition that the IO has overlooked a part of evidence which can goes against the accused.

    The scenarios like

    A. Non examination of vital eye witness under 161 CrPC

    B. Non recovery of weapon or theft material from accused.

    C. Non arresting of accused and interrogation of accused.

    D. Overlooking co-accused despite allegations

    Now these are the scenarios of claiming protest petition before magistrate.

    But what about offences under 498a/406

    A wife can file protest petition when there is faulty investigation and generally she can file protest petition when one of the accused is left out a FR is filed against one or all the accused in this case Husband and the family members.

    What after filing protest petition?

    Thse protest petition is like a complaint a magistrate has 3 options.

    1. Accept the report of police and reject the protest petition.
    2. Accept the report of police and accept protest petition in which he can order for inquiry as per complaint case procedure.
    3. Reject police report and treat case as complaint case.

    In Vikas Sawlani vs State Of Rajasthan And Anr on 31 May, 2013

    In this case even after compromise with wife, the police closed the case and later dispute arose between husband and wife the wife after filing protest petition the wife reopened the case and magistrate directed further investigation under 173(8) CrPC.

    In Ramavtar & Anr vs State & Anr on 23 January, 2013

    In this case FIR was registered on wife application under 156(3) and police closed the case as no case was made out. The magistrate treated the protest petition as complaint case and started procedure as per 200 CrPC

    In Kailash vs State Of Rajasthan on 24 October, 2018

    The magistrate on its own do not have any power to re-investigate the 498a case on his own. It is only on protest petition the magistrate can order further investigation if required.

    Now in 498a and 406 the police generally keep at bay the parents of the husband at the time of charge sheet and this has become a business solution of the police. Now by way of protest petition the wife may agitate the same and magistrate can order further investigation or treat the protest petition as separate complaint a supplementary charge sheet can be filed by the police in such cases.

    Advocate Nitish Banka

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