Supreme Court: No Section 197 sanction needed for Section 156(3) CrPC orders

The case concerns an appeal against the High Court of Karnataka's order quashing a private complaint and subsequent FIR filed by the appellant against police officials and others, where the High Court held that prosecution of the police required prior sanction under Section 197 CrPC.

Who it concerns: Appellant: Sri Anumandala Rajesh Reddy; Respondents: State of Karnataka and others (including police officials); Bench: Justice Mehta.

What the court decided

• The Court heard the five connected appeals together.
• The Court noted that the High Court had quashed the proceedings under Section 156(3) CrPC and the FIR based on the requirement of sanction under Section 197 CrPC and the precedent in Priyanka Srivastava v. State of Uttar Pradesh.
• The document text provided ends before stating the final judgment or operative directions of the Supreme Court.

Also in the document

• The High Court relied on the judgment in D. Devaraja v. State of Karnataka regarding the requirement of sanction for police officials acting in official duty.
• The High Court also cited Priyanka Srivastava v. State of Uttar Pradesh to hold that the complainant violated procedure by approaching the Magistrate directly without first approaching police authorities.