28. Charge sheet: 272 PRB. [Bengal police Regulation]
272. Chargesheets. [§ 12, Act V, 1861]. – (a) When an officer-in-charge of a police-station on completion of an investigation under Chapter XIV, Code of Criminal Procedure, finds the charge proved and proposes to proceed against any person, he shall, notwithstanding that he has failed to arrest all or any of the persons against whom the charge is proved, at once submit a charge-sheet in B.P. Form No. 39, which is the report prescribed under section 173, Code of Criminal Procedure. Thus a chargesheet shall be submitted when the accused is absconding or is sent up for trial in custody or on bond (section 170, Code of Criminal Procedure). In cases where an accused is absconding, the investigating officer shall submit with the chargesheet a list of the absconder’s property so that the Court may issue attachment orders.
(b) The following instructions shall be observed :-
(i) The charge-sheet shall be sent by the quickest means to the Court officer for submission to the Magistrate. When a prima facie case is made out in a case in which articles have, been sent for chemical analysis, the charge-sheet shall not be delayed till receipt of the Chemical Examiner’s report. If a case in the first instance is reported in final report form, but subsequently by the Magistrate’s order or otherwise, the accused person is placed on his trial, the final report form shall be cancelled and a charge-sheet submitted. If, on transit from a police-station to the Court, an accused person absconds, the charge-sheet form shall stand. The case shall be kept pending till the absconder is arrested, or till his arrest is considered hopeless.
(ii) When submitting a charge-sheet, the officer-in-charge of a police-station shall communicate in B. P. Form No. 40 or 40A, the action taken by him to the person, if any, by whom information relating to the commission of the offence was first given.
(iii) Lists of property stolen, lists of property found on parties arrested, reports on previous convictions, the bail and recognisance bonds executed under section 170, Code of Criminal Procedure (Forms XXV and XXVI of Schedule V, of the Code), and a map in cases in which the rules require a map, shall be attached to the chargesheet form. Only the precise particulars as required by the column headings shall be noted in the chargesheet. The chargesheet shall be given an annual serial number and counterfoil shall be kept at the police station. Superior officers of police may not return or detain a chargesheet once submitted by the investigating officer. They may, however, direct a further enquiry pending the instructions of the District Magistrate. If the correct name or address of the accused has not been ascertained the investigating officer shall ask that a remand be applied for.
(iv) A police officer sending up an accused person for trial shall certify on the back of the chargesheet that he has carefully examined the register of persons convicted (Village Crime Note-Book, Part II), and that he has in all other respects made full enquiry whether such accused person has been previously convicted. A similar certificate shall be given regarding absconders against whom a charge is proved. Should previous convictions be ascertained, a short report of all particulars concerning them, including the names of any person who can prove each previous conviction, will be sent with the chargesheet to enable the Court officer to prove them under section 511, Code of Criminal Procedure. In addition to the certificate referred to, the investigating officer, when the accused is charged with an offence for which enhanced punishment can be given on re-conviction, shall note on the back of the chargesheet as to whether the accused has resided in his jurisdiction for a period of more or less than 10 years.
(v) When the entry regarding the previous conviction of the person sent for trial would, under existing rules, be in the register of another station, the investigating officer will note this fact on the chargesheet and inform the officer-in-charge of that station that such a person is being sent for trial, in order that the latter may search his station register and supply direct to the Court officer the required particulars about his previous conviction. On receipt of this report, the Court officer shall attach it to the chargesheet. The receipt, however, of such information in no way relieves a sadar Court officer from the performance of the duty of searching the index to the register of convictions and ascertaining whether any conviction other than those noted by the station-police are entered therein against an accused person. Enquiries should not be made in Nepal as the antecedents of person professing to reside-in that State.
(vi) On the duplicate of the chargesheet shall be entered in red ink the number of the volume and page of the conviction (Village Crime Note-Book, Part II) and surveillance registers in which the convict’s name has been registered, and in all cases declared true, whether convicted or not, the number of the entry in the property register, if any, shall also be noted.
(vii) The antecedents of each accused person shall be noted on the back of the chargesheet under one or other of the following heads :-
(1) Known thief, dacoit, robber.
(2) Vagrant with no fixed residence.
(3) Suspicious character.
(4) Habitual drunkard.
(5) Prostitute.
(6) Good character.
(7) Antecedents unknown.
273. Map or plan to accompany chargesheet in certain cases. [§ 12, Act V, 1861]. – (a) A map or plan shall always accompany the chargesheet in cases of murder, dacoity, serious riot, mail robbery, highway robbery, extensive burglary or theft where Rs. 600/- or more are stolen. Ordinarily, maps will not be required in cases other than those mentioned above; but the investigating officer may, at his discretion, prepare and send up a map in any other case. The map shall be prepared at as early a stage of the investigation as possible.
(b) The map shall, if possible, be drawn to scale, but this is not essential. If not drawn to scale, the fact shall be noted clearly on the map.
(c) The draughtsman or investigating officer who prepares the map shall bear in mind that it is essential for a correct appreciation of the situation by the Court and jury that a clear distinction should be made between (i) facts actually seen by the draughtsman himself, and (ii) facts deposed to only by witnesses. Statements made by the draughtsman as to the first group are always relevant, his statements as to the second are prima facie inadmissible and cannot be used as primary evidence to go to the jury.
It is necessary to maintain a suitable distinction in the map between these two sets of facts. This distinction shall be effected as follows :-
(i) The objects actually seen by the person preparing the map including such permanent features as buildings, trees, roads, paths and tangible points connected with the case, such as blood-stains, footprints, cloth and corpse, etc., actually seen by him shall be indicated by letters of the alphabet, A, B, C, D etc., explanations of these letters being given preferably in the margin of the map, but if this cannot be conveniently done, the explanations shall be furnished on a separate sheet of paper attached to the map.
(ii) Particulars derived from witnesses, e.g., the place where witness X is said to have stood, where the accused is said to have been standing when seen by X, where the blow was struck, etc., shall be indicated on the map by the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. The explanations of these numbers, however, shall on no account be given on the face of the map or on the separate sheet of paper referred to above, but on another sheet of paper distinct-from either the map or the list of explanations of the actual facts indicated by letters.
(d) The number of the case and the name of the accused shall be given at the top of the map, and the signature of the person who prepared it at the foot. Use should always be made of cadastral and other maps, where they are available and are of sufficiently large scale.
(e) The draughtsman or the investigating officer who prepared the map shall be produced as a witness at the trial.