On 21 February, 2011 Hon,ble Delhi High Court held, "it was incumbent upon the learned MM to spell out for which offence she was taking cognizance qua the petitioners and how that offence was made out and what was the role played by different offenders. No doubt, a Magistrate takes cognizance of the offence and not of the offenders, but when he sends summons to an offender, he sends summons asking the offender to face trial. The Magistrate must be clear in her mind as to what were the offences made out against the offender and that there was prima facie evidence against him, more specifically when the police during investigation has not been able to find out evidence of involvement of the offender. Since the Magistrate disagreed with the report of the police and considered that there was evidence to summon the petitioners and asked them to face trial, she must have spelt out the reasons for summoning the petitioners placed in Column No.2. If the police had collected sufficient evidence and forwarded challan in respect of the offenders, the Magistrate may take cognizance of the offence and summon all such offenders for facing trial as named by police on the basis of evidence collected by the police but where the police has not found evidence and the Magistrate considered that there was sufficient evidence, then the Magistrate must pass a speaking order for summoning such offenders against whom, in the opinion of the police there was no evidence."
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