A person can file a complaint alleging any offence.
The Magistrate has three options (a) take cognizance (b) if it is a cognizable offence, direct police investigation (c) Reject complaint at threshold if no offence made out.
If he proceeds to take cognizance, he has to follow S 200 And/Or 202 steps –
If there are no sufficient grounds to proceed, he has to dismiss the complaint u/S 203
If sufficient ground to proceed against the accused are there, he can issue process to the accused u/S 204.
S 190, 200-203 CrPC [Thread]
📜When a complaint is filed before Magistrate, he/she can deal with it in 3 ways
1⃣ Take cognizance of the same and proceed to Chapter XV steps
2⃣ Without taking cognizance, order police investigation u/S 156(3) CrPC