Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 – s.319 – Power to proceed against other persons appearing to be guilty of offence – Exercise of power u/s.319 – High Court quashed the summons issued against respondent u/s.319 by the trial court – Challenge to:
Held: Summoning order passed by the trial court restored and the impugned order set aside – Power u/s.319 must be exercised sparingly – However, where the evidence reveals the complicity of the prospective accused, it becomes obligatory for the authority to exercise the power provided u/s.319 – High Court proceeded to conduct a mini trial solely relying upon the affidavits submitted before the Superintendent of Police qua the innocence of respondent – It erred in giving a categorical finding on the merits of the injured eyewitness not to have named respondent, which is based on erroneous assumption and contrary to the factual position – High Court erred in observing that witnesses have stated nothing about the motive of the crime, that the depositions are silent on the aspect of common intention, absence of the manner or sequence of occurrence of the incident, or that it cannot be inferred who is the aggressor – Respondent, although not charge sheeted, was named in the FIR, and the evidence of the alleged eyewitnesses, although prima facie, suggests the complicity of respondent, specific role being assigned to him, indicating that he was present at the scene of the occurrence, armed with a stick – High Court tried to apply the same standard in deciding this application as is ordinarily used at the end of the trial in determining the conviction or otherwise of the accused, whereas it ought to have considered that the standard of satisfaction required is short of the standard necessary for passing final judgment after trial. [Paras 22-26] Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 – s.319 – Power to proceed against other persons appearing to be guilty of offence – Exercise of power u/s.319 – Statutory requisites for summoning person not being the accused – Principles to be followed by the trial court while exercising power u/s.319 – Stated. [Paras 14, 15]
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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