Under Section 233 Cr. P.C. for each distinct offence of which any person is accused, there should be a separate charge and the exceptions are contained in the subsequent sections. There is no provision in the said section dealing with joinder of charges authorising two or more complainants to file a single complaint. If the authors of the Code of Criminal Procedure contemplated such filing of joint complaints, they would have clearly made provision for them corresponding to Order 1 Rule 1 C.P.C. providing for joinder of plaintiffs in civil suits. On the other hand, the provisions like Section 247 I.P.C., in summons case and Section 259 Cr.P.C in warrant case as to the powers of the Court to dismiss the complaint in the absence of the complainant, clearly indicate that a complaint could be filed by only one person. It has been rightly pointed out by the Learned Advocate for the petitioners that there would be difficulty even in the matter of compounding of the offences by the accused with every one of the complainants in the case of joint complaints. Narayanaswamy v. Egappa, 1962 (2) Cr. L.J. 616, 1962 SCC Online Mad. 45
Section 200 of the Criminal Procedure Code contemplates examination of the Complainant. A Magistrate taking cognizance of an offence on Complaint shall examine on oath the Complainant. If there is more than one complaint, it will be difficult for the Magistrate to form an opinion for taking cognizance of an offence. This applies to the Power of attorney of two Complaints also. Therefore, the joint Complaint given by two persons is not maintainable and liable to be quashed. Maheswari & others vs. Jayanthi & another, 2011 (3) MWN (Cr.) 319 (Madras High Court)
It is seen from the records that the complaint was preferred by two persons namely Dr. J.A. Thethavusamy and Mrs. Arlette Alyisus. It is brought to the notice of this Court by the learned Counsel appearing for both the parties, a decision of this Court reported in the case of Krishnamurthy R. v. M.P. Raja (1989) MLJ (Crl.) 13 : 1989 L.W.(Crl.) 186 to the preposition that complaint made by two persons jointly in respect of one and the same occurrence or transaction is not valid. In paragraphs 4 and 5 of the said decision, the learned Single Judge has held as follows:
4. As regards the validity of the complaint is concerned, it is contended that one complaint cannot be filed by two persons; the learned Counsel appearing for the petitioners would contend that the complaint filed by two persons jointly is not in the contemplation of the scheme of the Code of Criminal Procedure and produced before me two decisions (1) Sashadhar Achairya v. Sir Charles Tegari AIR 1931 Calcutta 646 wherein it was held that "A joint complaint by two persons is not contemplated by the Code" and (2) Narayanaswami v. Egappa Reddi 1961 MWN (Crl.) 129 wherein it was held that "A complaint could be filed by only one person. There is no provision in the Criminal Procedure Code for joint complaints".[2006 SCC Online Mad. 722 (Madras High Court)]
