what is meant protest or objections petition

The term ‘Protest Petition’ is nowhere defined under the Criminal Law in India but when the aggrieved person or complainant is not satisfied with the police report which filed before the Concerned Court; the Complainant may move the petition against the negative police report which is called the Protest Petition and the same is treated as Complaint under Section 190 of Criminal Procedure Code. This section describes the conditions requisite for the initiation of proceedings[1] Sub-section 1 Clause (b) of the above said Section is empowered the Magistrate to take cognizance of non-cognizable upon a report in writing made by police-officer which is taken only on the basis of documents forwarded by the Police Officer under Section 173(2) of Criminal Procedure Code, but when the Magistrate apply his mind to take into consideration of other substantive material or evidence, it would be a case of taking cognizance under Section 190(1)(a) and in that case the procedure prescribed under Section 200 and 202 of Criminal Procedure Code has to be followed. Section 200 t0 203 are incorporated under the Code for the purpose of ascertaining the truth or falsehood of the Complainant whether there is evidence in support of the Complaint so as to justify the issue of process and not whether there is sufficient ground for conviction.

It is not mandatory for the Magistrate to forward the Complaint to police for investigation under Section 156(3) of the Code. The Magistrate can conduct the enquiry himself under Section 202 instead for forwarding the same to the Police. It is settled law that when a Complaint is filed and sent to Police under Section 156(3) of the Code for the purpose of investigation and then the Protest Petition is filed, the Magistrate after accepting the final report of the Police under Section 173 of the Code and discharging the accused persons, has the power to deal with the Protest Petition.

However the Protest Petition has to satisfy the essential ingredients of the Complaint before Magistrate takes cognizance under Section 190(1)(a) of the Criminal Procedure Code.

When the Final Report is submitted by the Police and the Protest Petition is filed, the Magistrate has three options available to him

·        Firstly, he may accept the Final Report and may also reject the Protest Petition;

·        Secondly, he may accept the Final Report but treat the Protest Petition as a complaint and proceed in accordance with Section 200 and 202 of the Code;

·        Lastly, he may accept the Protest Petition and reject the Final Report and take cognizance under Section 190(1)(b) of the Code.

The correct legal position is that the Magistrate is not bound to accept the final report submitted by the police officials. The Magistrate can disagree with that report and take cognizance even on the basis of police papers, if any submitted along with the police report.

Hence, where the Protest Petition is filed, the procedure prescribed for trial of the complaint case has to be followed.