Section 166A of IPC - Public servant disobeying direction under law

Section 166A of IPC reads as under:- 166A. Public servant disobeying direction under law.- Whoever, being a public servant, -

(a) knowingly disobeys any direction of the law which prohibits him from requiring the attendance at any place of any person for the purpose of investigation into an offence or any other matter,

or (b) knowingly disobeys, to the prejudice of any person, any other direction of the law regulating the manner in which he shall conduct such investigation,

or (c) fails to record any information given to him under sub-section (1) of section 154 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (2 of 1974), in relation to cognizable offence punishable under section 326A, section 326B, section 354, section 354B, section 370, section 370A, section 376, section 376A, [section 376AB, section 376B, section 376C, section 376D, section 376DA, section 376DB], section 376E or section 509, shall be punished with rigorous imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than six months but which may extend to two years, and shall also be liable to fine.

12. From the plain reading of Section 166A (c) of IPC, it is clear that if an Investigating Officer fails to register the FIR in respect of the offence mentioned in sub-section (c) of Section 166A of IPC, then he will be liable to be prosecuted. 13. In the present case, as already pointed out, not only the Investigating Officer did not investigate the matter, but also allegedly misbehaved with the petitioner and her family members. The petitioner has filed a copy of the compact disc containing one video in which ASI Mr. Tripathi is seen, as stated by Shri MPS Raghuvanshi after seeing the compact disc. Furthermore, the SSP Gwalior has also placed the Investigating Officer under suspension on the ground of negligence and dereliction of duties. Therefore, this Court is of the considered opinion that merely registering the offence under Section 363 of IPC and not under Section 376 of IPC, specifically when the prosecutrix was minor and was not able to give any satisfactory explanation with regard to her whereabouts coupled with the fact that whenever the petitioner approached the police station Jhansi Road, Gwalior, she and her husband were allegedly misbehaved by the Investigating Officer, it is a fit case where an FIR should be lodged against the Investigating Officer for offence under Section 166A of IPC as well as other offences which may be made out of his conduct.

Smt Kamla Bai vs The State Of Madhya Pradesh on 28 June, 2022 Indian Kanoon - http://indiankanoon.org/doc/199664953/