Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 – s.319 – Summoning of the assailants to face trial – Dispute over the boundary of agricultural field between the parties – Four persons, including respondent no.2 and 3, shot dead the victim – FIR filed by the appellant-victim’s son – Respondent no.2 and 3 named in the FIR but not named in the chargesheet as accused – Chargesheet was filed u/ss.302, 504 and 506 IPC against the other two, while a final report was filed in relation to respondent nos.2 and 3 – Trial court, on basis of the testimonies of the prosecution witnesses, summoned respondent nos.2 and 3 to face trial – Challenge to – High Court setting aside the trial court’s summoning order – Correctness:
Held: Powers u/s.319 are wide and if, during the trial or inquiry, any person, who appears to be involved in the commission of a crime but not brought before the Court as an accused, can be summoned by the Court to face the trial and such a person can be tried together with the other accused being tried before the Court – Respondent nos.2 and 3 were named in the FIR but were not named in the chargesheet as accused – After recording the depositions of prosecution witnesses which inspired the confidence of the trial court, these respondents were summoned to face trial u/s.319 – Doubts raised on the credibility of the prosecution witnesses, should not be gone into at this stage – High Court erred in setting aside the well reasoned order of trial court by giving undue weightage to the s.161 statements of some witnesses – When the trial court, on the strength of the testimonies of prosecution witnesses, has summoned respondent nos.2 and 3 to face trial, then the decision of the trial court does not merit interference in the light of the evidence before the Court – Thus, the impugned order set aside and that of the trial court is restored – s.161. [Paras 8-13]
As published in the Supreme Court Reports, Supreme Court of India. Headnotes prepared by: Nidhi Jain. Text from the Indian Supreme Court Judgments open data set (Dattam Labs), CC BY 4.0.
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