Chandigarh, March 5: The Punjab and Haryana High Court has directed the Punjab Director General of Police (DGP) to launch a statewide sensitisation programme for police officials regarding the legal procedures for prosecuting false or vexatious complaints.
The order came as Justice Sumeet Goel quashed a ‘Kalandra’ (preventive police report) filed against a petitioner, ruling that the proceedings were initiated in complete disregard of Section 195 of the CrPC. The court stated that prosecutions for providing false information to public authorities cannot be handled casually by the police, as specific jurisdictional conditions must be met.
“The filing of the impugned Kalandra without adherence to the strictures of Section 195 of the CrPC represents a textbook example of procedural dereliction,” Justice Goel asserted.
The case originated from a complaint filed by a social worker alleging the misuse of reservation benefits by a judicial officer. Although welfare authorities and a police inquiry found the allegations unsubstantiated, the subsequent police action against the complainant was found to be legally flawed.
Justice Goel declared that the court was “cognisant of alarming proliferation of frivolous and vexatious complaint where baseless allegations are routinely weaponized to unsettle the administration of justice.”
The court has also ordered a formal inquiry to determine if the procedural lapse by the concerned SHO was a bona fide error or motivated by “malafide intentions.” A compliance report on the sensitisation measures and the inquiry results must be submitted to the High Court within six weeks.
