Distinction between rejection of complaint and dismissal of complaint
The legal position can thus be summed up as hereinbelow:-
On receipt of a written complaint, the 5 options available to a Judicial Magistrate who is competent to take cognizance of the case can be summarised as follows:-
1) Rejection of complaint If the complaint on the face of it does not at all make out any offence, then the Magistrate may reject the complaint. This power of rejection at the pre-cognizance stage is inherent in any Magistrate and the said power should not be mistaken for the power of dismissal available to the Magistrate under Sec. 203 Cr.P.C. since the latter power of dismissal is one which can be exercised only at the post-cognizance stage. (See Raju Puzhankara v. State of Kerala - 2008 (2) KLT 467 - Also see CREF Finance Ltd. v. Sree Shanthi Homes (P) Ltd. (2005) 7 SCC 467, Govind Mehta v State of Bihar - AIR 1971 SC 1708, Nagraj v. State of Mysore - AIR 1964 SC 269). 2) Where the Magistrate does not reject the complaint at the threshold, the Magistrate may, without taking cognizance of the offence, order an investigation by the police under Sec. 156 (3) Cr.P.C. and forward the complaint to the officer in- charge of the police station concerned provided that the complaint alleges the commission of a cognizable offence. Such a course can be adopted by the Magistrate only at the pre-cognizance stage. (See Dilawar Singh v. State of Delhi - AIR 2007 SC 3234 & Suresh Chand Jain v. State of M.P. - AIR 2001 SC 571) Even a complaint alleging the commission of offences exclusively triable by a
Court of Session can also be so forwarded under Sec. 156 (3) Cr.P.C. (See Tula Ram v. Kishore Singh - 1977 (4) SCC 459 = AIR 1977 SC 2401). The StationHouse Officer ("S.H.O." for short) who receives such a complaint forwarded under Sec. 156 (3) Cr.P.C. will have to treat the complaint as a First InformationReport within the meaning of Sec. 154 Cr.P.C. and is bound to register a crime and proceed to conduct an investigation as provided under Sec. 157 Cr.P.C. (See Mohammed Yousuff v. Smt.
