Legal provisions regarding to the Inquiry as to truth of information under section 116 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.
Section 116 of the Code of Criminal Procedure provides that:
(1) When an order under Section 111 has been read or explained under Section 112 to a person present in Court, or when any person appears or is brought before a Magistrate in compliance with, or in execution of, a summons or warrant issued under Section 113, the Magistrate shall proceed to inquire into the truth of the information upon which action has been taken, and to take such further evidence as may appear necessary.
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(2) Such inquiry shall be made, as nearly as may be practicable, in the manner hereinafter prescribed for conducting trial and recording evidence in summons cases.
(3) After the commencement, and before the completion, of the inquiry under sub-section (1), the Magistrate, if he considers that immediate measures are necessary for the prevention of a breach of the peace or disturbance of the public tranquility or the commission of any offence or for the public safety, may, for reasons to be recorded in writing, direct the person in respect of whom the order under Section 111 has been made to execute a bond, with or without sureties, for keeping the peace or maintaining good behaviour until the conclusion of the inquiry, and may detain him in custody until such bond is executed or, in default of execution, until the inquiry is concluded. However,—
(a) No person against whom proceedings are not being taken under Section 108, Section 109, or Section 110, shall be directed to execute a bond for maintaining good behaviour;
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(b) The conditions of such bond, whether as to the amount thereof or as to the provision of sureties or the number thereof or the pecuniary extent of their liability, shall not be more onerous than those specified in the order under Section 111.
To direct to execute a bond for maintaining good behaviour, a definite finding is required that immediate steps are necessary to execute a bond, and the Magistrate has to justify his action by reasons to be recorded in writing. If, without any inquiry into the truth of the information sufficient to make out a prima facie case, a person is to be put in jeopardy, it would be moving too for away from the guarantee of freedom.
(4) For the purpose of Section 116, the fact that a person is an habitual offender or is so desperate and dangerous as to render his being at large without security hazardous to the community may be proved by evidence of general repute or otherwise.
(5) Where two or more persons have been associated together in the matter under inquiry, they may be dealt with in the same or separate inquiries as the Magistrate shall think just.
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(6) The inquiry under Section 116 of the Code shall be completed within a period of six months from the date of its commencement, and if such inquiry is not so completed, the proceedings under this Chapter shall, on the expiry of the said period, stand terminated unless, for special reasons to be recorded in writing, the Magistrate otherwise directs. However, where any person has been kept in detention pending such inquiry, the proceeding against the person, unless terminated earlier, shall stand terminated on the expiry of a period of six months of such detention.
(7) Where any direction is made permitting the continuance of proceedings, the Sessions Judge may, on an application made to him by the aggrieved party, vacate such direction if he is satisfied that it was not based on any special reason or was perverse.