High Court dismissed a petition under Section 482 Cr.P.C. seeking quashing of an order adding the petitioner as an additional accused via Section 319 Cr.P.C. Court held adding accused during trial justified when evidence establishes guilt.
Petition under Section 482 Cr.P.C. fails and is dismissed.
This page shows the compact analysis of this judgement. The full analysis — procedural history, issue-by-issue holdings with ratio and obiter, advocates, and paragraph-level evidence for every claim — is being added to the record in batches and will appear here when this judgement has been through it.
IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM
PRESENT
THE HONOURABLE MRS. JUSTICE MARY JOSEPH
THURSDAY, THE 12TH DAY OF MARCH 2020 / 22ND PHALGUNA, 1941
Crl.MC.No.3013 OF 2016
AGAINST THE JUDGMENT IN CC No.782/2009 DATED 03-07-2015 OF JUDICIAL MAGISTRATE OF FIRST CLASS -I, MAVELIKARA
CRIME NO.350/2009 OF Kurathikadu Police Station, Alappuzha
PETITIONER/2ND ACCUSED:
BALAKRISHNA IYYER
AGED 45 YEARS, S/O.KRISHNA IYYER,JANARDHANA VILASAM,BHARANIKAVU NORTH, BHARANIKAVU (PO).
BY ADVS. SRI.M.V.THAMBAN SRI.ARUN BOSE SRI.B.BIPIN SRI.R.REJI SMT.THARA THAMBAN
RESPONDENTS/STATE:
STATE OF KERALA
REPRESENTED BY THE PUBLIC PROSECUTOR,HIGH COURT OF KERALA, ERNAKULAM, PIN 682018,REPRESENTING THE SUB INSPECTOR OF POLICE,KURATHIKADU POLICE STATION, ALAPPUZHA DISTRICT.
SRI B JAYASURYA (SR)- PP
THIS CRIMINAL MISC. CASE HAVING BEEN FINALLY HEARD ON 12.03.2020, THE COURT ON THE SAME DAY PASSED THE FOLLOWING:
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ORDER
Dated this the 12th day of March, 2020
The petition on hand is filed under Section 482 Cr.P.C. The petitioner is the 2nd accused in C.C No.326/2012 pending on the files of Judicial First Class Magistrate Court-I, Mavelikara (for short ' the trial court').
Crl.MC.No.3013/2016 3
petitioner and the offence under Section 308 were removed while laying the final report. True copy of the final report is appended to the petition on hand as Annexure-A2. After the filing of the final report, cognizance was taken by the Magistrate for the above offences and the case was numbered and proceeded with as C.C No.326/2012. The trial was scheduled and commenced. In the trial held, CW1 was examined as PW1 and he has spoken about the involvement of the petitioner in the incident. The evidence having been brought to that effect, the trial court by invoking the jurisdiction under Section 319 Cr.P.C, added him as an additional accused and proposed to hold trial against him. Aggrieved by the order passed on 17.02.2016 in the above case, the petitioner has approached this Court seeking to quash the same.
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under Sections 452 and 323 r/w Section 34 IPC. According to him, trial was held in the case and the defacto complainant herein and another, have been found guilty, convicted and sentenced for offences under Sections 451 and 323 r/w Section 34 IPC and acquitted for the offence under Section 452 IPC. According to him, to wreck vengeance for being punished at the instance of the defacto complainant, the crime in question got registered by the petitioner raising false allegations.
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319 Cr.P.C to add him as an additional accused and proposed to hold the trial against him. Accordingly, the learned counsel canvassed to quash the order passed by the trial court under Section 319 Cr.P.C, produced alongwith the petition on hand as Annexure-A3, invoking the jurisdiction under Section 482 Cr.P.C.
reference:
(1)Where, in the course of any inquiry into, or trial of, an offence, it appears from the evidence that any person not being the accused has committed any offence for which such person could be tried together with the accused, the Court may proceed against such person for the offence which he appears to have committed.
(2)Where such person is not attending the Court, he may be arrested or summoned, as the circumstances of the case may require, for the purpose aforesaid.
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(3)Any person attending the Court although not under arrest or upon a summons, may be detained by such Court for the purpose of the inquiry into, or trial of, the offence which he appears to have committed.
(4)Where the Court proceeds against any person under subsection (1) then-
(a) the proceedings in respect of such person shall be commenced afresh, and witnesses re-heard;
(b) subject to the provisions of clause (a) the case may proceed as if such person had been an accused person when the Court took cognizance of the offence upon which the inquiry or trial was commenced.”
7. It is clear from the provision extracted above that the
power under Section 319 Cr.P.C can be invoked by the court where in the course of any enquiry or trial, it has come out in evidence that apart from the accused facing trial before it, some other person is also involved in the commission of the offences for which trial is held, he shall also be proceeded against for the offences. Therefore, upon receiving evidence against any person regarding commission of offences, for which, some other accused have been tried by the court, the trial court is empowered to implicate the said person as an additional accused and to hold trial against him. The fact that the petitioner's name was once removed from the array of the accused
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by the Police during the course of investigation, will not be a bar for the trial court to invoke Section 319 Cr.P.C to add that person also as an additional accused when evidence regarding his involvement has been brought out during examination of witnesses.
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absolutely no reason to state that the trial court is unjustified in arraying the petitioner as accused No.2 and proposing to hold trial against him.
For the foregoing reasons, Crl.M.C fails and is dismissed.
Sd/-
MARY JOSEPH
JUDGE
JJ
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APPENDIX
PETITIONER'S/S EXHIBITS:
ANNEXURE-A1: TRUE COPY OF THE FIR IN CRIME NO.288/2012 OF KURATHIKAD POLICE STATION, ALAPPUZHA.
ANNEXURE-A2: TRUE COPY OF THE FINAL REPORT FILED IN C.C.NO.326/2012 OF THE HON'BLE JUDICIAL FIRST CLASS MAGISTRATE COURT-I, MAVELIKKARA.
ANNEXURE-A3: CERTIFIED COPY OF THE ORDER DT.17.02.2016 IN C.C.NO.326/2012 OF THE HON'BLE JUDICIAL FIRST CLASS MAGISTRATE COURT-I, MAVELIKKARA.
ANNEXURE-A4: TRUE COPY OF THE JUDGMENT DT.03.07.2015 IN C.C.NO.782/09 OF HON'BLE JUDICIAL FIRST CLASS MAGISTRATE COURT, MAVELIKKARA.
//TRUE COPY//
1 issue framed by the court
Whether the High Court should quash the trial court order invoking jurisdiction under Section 319 Cr.P.C to add the petitioner as an additional accused.
2 provisions across 1 enactments
BALAKRISHNA IYYER
STATE OF KERALA
MARY JOSEPH
As recorded by the court registry
Judgements on the same questions, provisions and authorities, from every court
