Head Constable Raj Kumar vs State Of Punjab - Ss. 197, 204, 210, 227, 397, 482 CrPC- Sanction

Code of Criminal Procedure 1973- Section 197 [Section 218 BNSS] - An act that is per se directed to erasing a potential exhibit, if ultimately proved, cannot be regarded as reasonably connected with any bona-fide police duty. The test consistently applied by this Court is whether the impugned act bears a direct and inseparable nexus to official functions- Where the very accusation is suppression of evidence, the nexus is absent on the face of the record. In such a situation the bar of Section 197 CrPC is not attracted, and sanction is not a condition precedent to cognizance. The cloak of official duty cannot be extended to acts intended to thwart justice – Referred to in Gauri Shankar Prasad v State of Bihar (2000) 5 SCC 15 (Para 16) - Police officials accused of surrounding a civilian vehicle in plain clothes and jointly firing upon its occupant- SC held: Such conduct, by its very nature, bears no reasonable nexus to the duties of maintaining public order or effecting lawful arrest. The availability of official firearms, or even an erroneous official objective cannot transmute acts wholly outside the colour of authority into those “done while acting or purporting to act in discharge of official duty.”

Code of Criminal Procedure 1973- Section 397,482 [Section 438, 528 BNSS]- Statutory bar under Section 397(3) CrPC cannot be overcome by styling second challenge to the summoning order as an application under Section 482 CrPC. (Para 17)

Code of Criminal Procedure 1973- Section 210 [Section 233 BNSS]- Section 210 CrPC attracted only when a police report covering the “same offence” is actually before the Court. (Para 6)

Code of Criminal Procedure 1973- Section 204,228 [Section 227, 251 BNSS] - At the stage of summoning or of framing of charges the Court is not expected to weigh the probative value of the materials in microscopic detail but merely to see whether the facts, taken at their face, disclose the commission of an offence. (Para 8)