KOCHI: In a seemingly unbelievable development, a Judicial First Class Magistrate (JFCM) has disposed of 1,622 cases involving serious offences in just six months and even discharged the accused in the cases.
The incident has now come under the scrutiny of the Kerala High Court and it has decided to review the cases suo motu. The High Court Administrative Committee also found the action of the Magistrate is illegal amounting to an arbitrary exercise of judicial discretion.
The Chief Judicial Magistrate, Kollam, had reported that R Rajesh, Judicial First Class Magistrate Court II, Kollam had disposed of a total number of 1622 cases, including offences under IPC, Abkari Act, NDPS Act and MV Act from June 1, 2016 to December 31, 2016.
The CJM also informed the High Court the action of the Magistrate is in total disregard to the directives issued by the High Court. Following the report, the High Court ordered an inquiry by the Registrar (Vigilance) and it found the Magistrate discharged had the accused without taking any effort to understand the law on the subject and the real scope of the provisions.
Disciplinary action
The Administrative Committee, in its meeting, resolved to initiate disciplinary action against the officer.
The committee had considered the reports submitted by the District Judge, Kollam, and also the inquiry report submitted by the Registrar (Vigilance).
The committee also considered the miscarriage of justice resulted from the large-scale disposal of criminal cases invoking section 258 of CrPC by the officer.Hence, the committee resolved to initiate steps to register suo motu revision as provided in Sections 397 and 401 of CrPC. A Single Judge of the court considered the case on March 28.