LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) held that a station house officer (SHO) cannot embark upon an inquiry to examine the reliability or credibility of information to refuse the registration of a criminal case.

“He is under a statutory duty to register a criminal case and then to proceed with the investigation. And if he has reason to suspect the commission of an offence, he has the ample power to dispense with the investigation altogether,” the court observed.

The court had passed this order in a petition of one Arslan Raza of Gujrat against the SHO of Civil Line police station in Gujrat who refused to register a criminal case on his complaint of robbery.

The LHC set aside the order of the district court and observed that the order passed by it was patently illegal and unwarranted.

The court directed the SHO concerned to register a criminal case on the information of the petitioner, clearly disclosing the commission of a cognizable offence, already furnished to him.

The petitioner had also approached a district court against the SHO but failed to get relief.

The district court in its order held that the SHO had the power to probe the contents of the application submitted to him and refuse to register a criminal case if it was found to be doubtful.

The LHC observed that section 154 of the Code and rule 24.1(1) of the Rules make it abundantly clear that on receiving the information regarding the commission of a cognizable offence, the application shall culminate in the registration of a criminal case.

The legislature by using the word ‘every’ to qualify the word ‘information’, ultimately left no discretion with an SHO to refuse the registration of a criminal case after receiving information regarding the commission of a cognizable offence, the court concluded.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022