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Supreme Court in Union of India (UOI) Vs. Prafulla Kumar Samal and Another, and Dilawar Balu Kurane Vs. State of Maharashtra, held..
ย In Prafulla Kumar Samal (supra), the scope of Section 227 of the Cr.P.C. was considered. After adverting to various decisions, this Court has enumerated the following principles:
(1) That the Judge while considering the question of framing the charges u/s 227 of the Code has the undoubted power to sift and weigh the evidence for the limited purpose of finding out whether or not a prima facie case against the accused has been made out.
(2) Where the materials placed before the Court disclose grave suspicion against the accused which has not been properly explained the Court will be fully justified in framing a charge and proceeding with the trial.
(3) The test to determine a prima facie case would naturally depend upon the facts of each case and it is difficult to lay down a rule of universal application. By and large however if two views are equally possible and the Judge is satisfied that the evidence produced before him while giving rise to some suspicion but not grave suspicion against the accused, he will be fully within his right to discharge the accused.
(4) That in exercising his jurisdiction u/s 227 of the Code the Judge which under the present Code is a senior and experienced court cannot act merely as a Post Office or a mouthpiece of the prosecution, but has to consider the broad probabilities of the case, the total effect of the evidence and the documents produced before the Court, any basic infirmities appearing in the case and so on. This however does not mean that the Judge should make a roving enquiry into the pros and cons of the matter and weigh the evidence as if he was conducting a trial.
In Dilawar Balu Kurane (supra), the principles enunciated in Prafulla Kumar Samal (supra) have been reiterated and it was held:
12. Now the next question is whether a prima facie case has been made out against the appellant. In exercising powers u/s 227 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the settled position of law is that the Judge while considering the question of framing the charges under the said section has the undoubted power to sift and weigh the evidence for the limited purpose of finding out whether or not a prima facie case against the accused has been made out; where the materials placed before the court disclose grave suspicion against the accused which has not been properly explained the court will be fully justified in framing a charge and proceeding with the trial; by and large if two views are equally possible and the Judge is satisfied that the evidence produced before him while giving rise to some suspicion but not grave suspicion against the accused, he will be fully justified to discharge the accused, and in exercising jurisdiction u/s 227 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the Judge cannot act merely as a post office or a mouthpiece of the prosecution, but has to consider the broad probabilities of the case, the total effect of the evidence and the documents produced before the court but should not make a roving enquiry into the pros and cons of the matter and weigh the evidence as if he was conducting a trial (see Union of India v. Prafulla Kumar Samal).
On consideration of the authoritiesย about the scope of Section 227 and 228 of the Code, the following principles emerge:
(i) The Judge while considering the question of framing the charges u/s 227 of the Cr.P.C. has the undoubted power to sift and weigh the evidence for the limited purpose of finding out whether or not a prima facie case against the accused has been made out. The test to determine prima facie case would depend upon the facts of each case.
(ii) Where the materials placed before the Court disclose grave suspicion against the accused which has not been properly explained, the Court will be fully justified in framing a charge and proceeding with the trial.
(iii) The Court cannot act merely as a Post Office or a mouthpiece of the prosecution but has to consider the broad probabilities of the case, the total effect of the evidence and the documents produced before the Court, any basic infirmities etc. However, at this stage, there cannot be a roving enquiry into the pros and cons of the matter and weigh the evidence as if he was conducting a trial.
(iv) If on the basis of the material on record, the Court could form an opinion that the accused might have committed offence, it can frame the charge, though for conviction the conclusion is required to be proved beyond reasonable doubt that the accused has committed the offence.
(v) At the time of framing of the charges, the probative value of the material on record cannot be gone into but before framing a charge the Court must apply its judicial mind on the material placed on record and must be satisfied that the commission of offence by the accused was possible.
(vi) At the stage of Sections 227 and 228, the Court is required to evaluate the material and documents on record with a view to find out if the facts emerging therefrom taken at their face value discloses the existence of all the ingredients constituting the alleged offence. For this limited purpose, sift the evidence as it cannot be expected even at that initial stage to accept all that the prosecution states as gospel truth even if it is opposed to common sense or the broad probabilities of the case.
(vii) If two views are possible and one of them gives rise to suspicion only, as distinguished from grave suspicion, the trial Judge will be empowered to discharge the accused and at this stage, he is not to see whether the trial will end in conviction or acquittal.
Cases Referred
- Common Cause, A Registered Society Vs. Union of India and Others, AIR 1999 SC 2979 : (1999) 5 JT 237 : (2000) 1 SCALE 476 : (1999) 4 SCALE 354 : (1998) 4 SCALE 1 : (1999) 6 SCC 667 : (1999) 3 SCR 1279 : (1999) AIRSCW 2899 : (1999) 6 Supreme 425
- Dilawar Balu Kurane Vs. State of Maharashtra, AIR 2002 SC 564 : (2002) CriLJ 980 : (2002) 1 Crimes 243 : (2002) 1 JT 6 : (2002) 1 SCALE 47 : (2002) 2 SCC 135 : (2002) 1 SCR 75 : (2002) 1 UJ 269 : (2002) AIRSCW 146 : (2002) 1 Supreme 55
- P. Vijayan Vs. State of Kerala and Another, AIR 2010 SC 663 : (2010) CLT 551 : (2010) CriLJ 1427 : (2010) 2 Crimes 1 : (2010) 1 JT 459 : (2010) 1 SCALE 604 : (2010) 2 SCC 398 : (2010) 3 SCR 78 : (2010) 2 UJ 724 : (2010) AIRSCW 886 : (2010) AIRSCW 6302 : (2010) 7 Supreme 271 : (2010) 2 Supreme 199
- Vakil Prasad Singh Vs. State of Bihar, AIR 2009 SC 1822 : (2009) CriLJ 1731 : (2009) 2 JT 113 : (2009) 1 SCALE 22 : (2009) 3 SCC 355 : (2009) 2 SCR 517 : (2009) AIRSCW 1418 : (2009) AIRSCW 5022 : (2009) 1 Supreme 514
- Union of India (UOI) Vs. Prafulla Kumar Samal and Another, AIR 1979 SC 366 : (1979) CriLJ 154 : (1979) 3 SCC 4 : (1979) SCC(Cri) 609 : (1979) 2 SCR 229
- SAJJAN KUMAR Vs. CENTRAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION
