Vikas Rathi vs The State of U.P. & Anr.

Court

Supreme Court of India

Date

1 March 2023

Case No.

Criminal Appeal No. 644 of 2023

Result

Allowed

Bench

Abhay S. Oka, Rajesh Bindal

Citation

[2023] 2 S.C.R. 6 : 2023 INSC 186

Headnote

Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 : s. 319 – Summoning of additional accused – Murder of a person working in the appellant’s firm – Complaint by the brother of the deceased – FIR registered against unknown persons – However, after two months, complaint by the wife of the deceased against the appellant – Appellant listed as a prosecution witness – Application u/s. 319 by the complainant to summon the appellant as accused – Dismissed by the trial court – High Court quashed the order passed by trial court and remanded the matter – On appeal, held: On consideration of the evidence already on record produced by the prosecution, it does not go beyond suspicion – There was no eye-witness to the occurrence – Material on record was not sufficient for summoning of an additional accused in exercise of power u/s. 319 to establish complicity of the appellant in the crime – Also the charged accused have been acquitted – Furthermore, remand in such a matter would only result in prolonging the litigation – High Court only recorded that reasons assigned by the trial court for rejecting the application were not sufficient – To avoid delay, the proper exercise of power by the High Court would have been to consider the material and opine as to whether a case was made out for summoning of additional accused – Thus, the order passed by the High Court is set aside – Application for summoning the appellant as an additional accused dismissed.

Hardeep Singh and Ors. v. State of Punjab & Ors. (2014) 3 SCC 92 : [2014] 2 SCR 1 – relied on.

Mohd. Shafi v. Mohd. Rafiq (2007) 14 SCC 544 : [2007]

4 SCR 1023; Sagar v. State of U.P. and Anr. (2022) 6 SCC 389; Kailash v. State of Rajasthan and Anr. (2008)

14 SCC 51 : [2008] 3 SCR 702 – referred to.

The Judgment of the Court was delivered by RAJESH BINDAL, J. 1. The Order dated 16.05.2017 passed by the Allahabad High Court is under challenge before this Court. By the aforesaid order, Criminal Revision Petition was filed by the respondent No.2 challenging the order dated 15.03.2017 whereby the application filed under Section 319 Cr.P.C. for summoning the present appellant, was dismissed. 2. The High Court, vide impugned order had quashed the Order dated 15.03.2017 and remanded the matter back to the Trial Court for fresh examination. 3. Learned counsel for the appellant submitted that

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