AIR 1980 SUPREME COURT 242 ::1981 BLT (Rep) 14 (SC) ::1980 Cri App R (SC) 381 ::1980 MadLW (Cri) 277 ::1979 Cri App R (SC) 367 ::(1980) 1 SCJ 521 ::1981 (1) SCR 774 ::1981 SC Cri R 169

Supreme Court Of India

(From : Madhya Pradesh)*

Hon'ble Judge(s): D. A. Desai, O. Chinnappa Reddy , JJ

Criminal P.C. (2 of 1974) , S.146, S.145— Attachment made on ground of emergency - Magistrate's jurisdiction to proceed with enquiry under S. 145 does not end - Need not wait for determination of rights of parties by competent Court. The Magistrate's Jurisdiction does not come to an end as soon as an attachment is made on the ground of emergency, S. 146 does not contemplate that regardless of the situation, consequent upon which an attachment is effected, it is the Civil Court and not the Magistrate that is to have further jurisdiction in the matter, after an attachment is effected. Ss. 145 and 146 of the Criminal P.C. together constitute a scheme for the resolution of a situation where there is a likelihood of a breach of the peace because of a dispute concerning any land or water or their boundaries. If S. 146 is torn out of its setting and read independently of S. 145, it is capable of being construed to mean that once an attachment is effected in any of the three situations mentioned therein, the dispute can only be resolved by a competent Court and not by the Magistrate effecting the attachment. But S. 146 cannot be so separated from S. 145. It can only be read in the context of S. 145. Contextual construction must surely prevail over isolationist construction. Otherwise, it may mislead.(Para 4) In a case of....