JUDGMENT : The Court Made the following order :- The petitioner, who apprehends arrest at the hands of the respondent Police, for the offence punishable under Section 506(i) IPC, in Crime No. Not known, on the file of the respondent Police, seeks anticipatory bail. 2. The learned counsel appearing for the petitioner submits that the very same complainant has also lodged a complaint as against the petitioner before the Silaiman Police Station and the petitioner herein also filed a petition before this Court in Crl.O.P.(MD)No.11347 of 2021, seeking a direction to the respondent not to interfere with the civil dispute pending between the petitioner and the defacto complainant. The subject matter of the complaint, according to the petitioner, is a contractual agreement dated 17.02.2020, relating to the construction in R.S.No.69/1A3, 1st floor, Viraganoor, Madurai South Taluk, Madurai District. 3. The learned Government Advocate (Crl. Side) submits that in this case, petition enquiry is pending on the file of the respondent. Though the respondent Police sent summon to the petitioner on 18.09.2021, he did not appear before the respondent Police. 4. On a perusal of the summon issued by the respondent, it appears that the summon was issued under Sections 41A and 160 Cr.P.C. 5. At this juncture, it is relevant to extract the provisions of Sections 41A and 160 Cr.P.C. which read as follows: 41A – Notice of appearance before police officer – (1) [The police officer shall], in all cases where the arrest of a person is not required under the provisions of sub-section (1) of section 41, issue a notice directing the persons against whom a reasonable complaint has been made, or credible information has been received, or a reasonable suspicion exists that he has committed a cognizable offence, to appear before him or at such other place as may be specified in the notice. (2) Where such a notice is issued to any person, it shall be the duty of that person to comply with the terms of the notice. (3) Where such person complies and continues to comply with the notice, he shall not be arrested in respect of the offence referred to in the notice unless, for reasons to be recorded, the police officers is of the opinion that he ought to be arrested. (3) Where such person complies and continues to comply with the notice, he shall not be arrested in respect of the offence referred to in the notice unless, for reasons to be recorded, the police officers is of the opinion that he ought to be arrested. [(4) Where such person, at any time, fails to comply with the terms of the notice or is unwilling to identify himself, the police officer may, subject to such orders as may have been passed by a competent Court in this behalf, arrest him for the offence mentioned in the notice.] 160. Police officer's power to require attendance of witnesses – (1) Any police officer making an investigation under this Chapter may, by order in writing, require the attendance before himself of any person being within the limits of his own or any adjoining station who, from the information given or otherwise, appears to be acquainted with the facts and circumstances of the case; and such person shall attend as so required. Provided that no male person [under the age of fifteen years or above the age of sixty-five years or a woman or a mentally or physically disabled person] shall be required to attend at any place other than the place in which such male person or woman resides. (2) The State Government may, by rules made in this behalf, provide for the payment by the police officer of the reasonable expenses of every person, attending under sub-section (1) at any place other than his residence.” 6. On a reading of those provisions, it reveal that the issuance of summons under Sections 41A and 160 Cr.P.C. would arise only after the registration of a case. 7. The code of Criminal Procedure has not contemplated any procedure for enquiry before registration of case. Neither under Section 156(3) CrPC nor under Section 154 CrPC opportunity was provided to the accused before registration of case. However, considering the nature of certain complaints, such as matrimonial disputes/ family disputes, commercial offences, etc., the Larger Bench of the Hon'ble Apex Court in Lalitha Kumari Vs Government of UP, reported 2014 2 SCC 1 has passed the following order: 111) In view of the aforesaid discussion, we hold: i) Registration of FIR is mandatory under Section 154 of the Code, if the information discloses commission of a cognizable offence and no preliminary inquiry is permissible in such a situation. ii) If the information received does not disclose a cognizable offence but indicates the necessity for an inquiry, a preliminary inquiry may be conducted only to ascertain whether cognizable offence is disclosed or not. iii) If the inquiry discloses the commission of a cognizable offence, the FIR must be registered. In cases where preliminary inquiry ends in closing the complaint, a copy of the entry of such closure must be supplied to the first informant forthwith and not later than one week. It must disclose reasons in brief for closing the complaint and not proceeding further. iv) The police officer cannot avoid his duty of registering offence if cognizable offence is disclosed. Action must be taken against erring officers who do not register the FIR if information received by him discloses a cognizable offence. v) The scope of preliminary inquiry is not to verify the veracity or otherwise of the information received but only to ascertain whether the information reveals any cognizable offence. vi) As to what type and in which cases preliminary inquiry is to be conducted will depend on the facts and circumstances of each case. The category of cases in which preliminary inquiry may be made are as under: a) Matrimonial disputes/ family disputes b) Commercial offences c) Medical negligence cases d) Corruption cases e) Cases where there is abnormal delay/laches in initiating criminal prosecution, for example, over 3 months delay in reporting the matter without satisfactorily explaining the reasons for delay. The aforesaid are only illustrations and not exhaustive of all conditions which may warrant preliminary inquiry. vii) While ensuring and protecting the rights of the accused and the complainant, a preliminary inquiry should be made time bound and in any case it should not exceed 7 days. The fact of such delay and the causes of it must be reflected in the General Diary entry. viii) Since the General Diary/Station Diary/Daily Diary is the record of all information received in a police station, we direct that all information relating to cognizable offences, whether resulting in registration of FIR or leading to an inquiry, must be mandatorily and meticulously reflected in the said Diary and the decision to conduct a preliminary inquiry must also be reflected, as mentioned above. 8. 8. The Hon'ble Apex Court while observing so, has made it clear that the scope of criminal enquiry is not to verify the veracity or otherwise of the information received, but only to ascertain as to whether the information reveals any cognizable offence. 9. The Hon'ble Apex Court in a recent judgment in M.A.Khaliq and Ors Vs. Ashok Kumar & Anr [Criminal Appeal No.1003 of 2021, arising out of S.L.P(Crl)No.10427 of 2019], dated 15.09.2021 has held that summoning of a person without there being any crime registered against him and detaining him would itself be violative of the basic principles and it can be treated as violative of the directions issued by the Hon'ble Apex Court in Arnesh Kumar Vs State of Bihar and Another (2014) 8 SCC 273 and D.K.Basu Vs State of West Bengal (1997) 1 SCC 416 . 10. In this case, it appears that the petition enquiry is pending for more than a month and even without registering a case, whether the Police is justified in issuing a summon invoking the provisions of Sections 41A and 160 Cr.P.C., is a question of law, which has to be decided. 11. In the light of the above, the respondent Police is directed to file a report as to the nature of the offence committed by the petitioner, how it is justifiable in issuing summons to the petitioner under Sections 41A and 160 Cr.P.C. without registering the case and how there can be a petition enquiry pending more than seven days, in view of the directions of the Hon'ble Apex Court in Lalitha Kumari's cases cited supra. 12. Post the matter on 04.10.2021.