Magistrate Can't Direct Inclusion Of Name In Charge-Sheet Without Issuing Summons To The Person: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court has held that if a Magistrate wants to include an accused in the charge sheet filed by the Police, a summons should be issued to that person and direction cannot be issued to include the name of the accused and, instead, summons should be issued to them.

The Court was hearing a Special Leave Petition (SLP) against an order passed by the Chhattisgarh High Court upholding the direction passed by the learned Judicial Magistrate, First Class, Pithora, District-Mahasamund in the State of Chhattisgarh to include names of two persons as accused in the charge sheet.

The Bench of Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah and Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra emphasized that the Court has the power to differ from the report submitted by the Police and take cognizance of a crime and also against persons who may not have been included in the report by the Police.

"The Court has the power to differ from the Final Form submitted by the Police and take cognizance of a crime and also against persons who may not have been sent up for trial by the Police after investigation," the Bench observed.

The Court added, "In such circumstances, the Court is then required to issue summons instead of directing for inclusion of the name of the person in the charge-sheet. Thus, ultimately, the result is the same, that is, the person concerned is arrayed as an accused upon taking cognizance after application of mind by the Court and accordingly, summons are issued. Thus, the order which in essence is of summons as an accused, cannot be faulted."

AoR Abhinav Shrivastava appeared for the Petitioner.

He contended that there is no provision in law where the Court can direct the police to file a chargesheet against a particular person.

The Court noted, "Having considered the matter, we find some technical merit in the contention of the learned counsel for the petitioner."

Based on these observations, the Court held that the order, which effectively served as a summons to the accused, was legally sound. Consequently, the SLP was dismissed with the Court clarifying its position on the power to issue summons in lieu of a charge-sheet directive. Pending applications, if any, were disposed of.

Cause Title: Gopal Pradhan v. State of Chhattisgarh and Ors. [Special Leave to Appeal (Crl.) No(s).3649/2025]

Appearance:-

Petitioner: Advocates Abhinav Shrivastava (AOR), Bajrang Agrawal, Unnati Vaibhav

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