Discuss the grounds on which an application under Section 319 CrPC for the summoning of a person as an accused can be filed and at what stage of the proceedings can. The court does so with reference to the latest case law of the Supreme Court in the case of Hardeep Singh v. State of Punjab (2014)

Question: Discuss the grounds on which an application under Section 319 CrPC for the summoning of a person as an accused can be filed and at what stage of the proceedings can. The court does so with reference to the latest case law of the Supreme Court in the case of Hardeep Singh v. State of Punjab (2014) 3 SCC 92.

Find the answer only on Legal Bites. [Discuss the grounds on which an application under Section 319 CrPC for the summoning of a person as an accused can be filed and at what stage of the proceedings can. The court does so with reference to the latest case law of the Supreme Court in the case of Hardeep Singh v. State of Punjab (2014) 3 SCC 92.]

Answer

Section 319 CrPC springs out of the doctrine judex damnatur cum nocens absolvitur (Judge is condemned when guilty is acquitted) and this doctrine must be used as a beacon light while explaining the ambit and the spirit underlying the enactment of Section 319 CrPC.

Section 319 CrPC allows the court to proceed against any person who is not accused in a case before it. Thus, the person against whom the summons is issued in exercise of such powers has to necessarily not be an accused already facing trial. Since it is the duty of the Court to do justice by punishing the real culprit where the investigating agency for any reason does not array one of the real culprits as an accused; the court is not powerless in calling the said accused to face trial.

In regard to the answer at what stage of the proceeding, the court can exercise its power to summon a person as an accused, the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Ranjit Singh v. State of Punjab, AIR 1998 SC 3148 has summarized the legal position as follow:

“So from the stage of committal till the Sessions Court reaches the stage indicated in Section 230 of the Code that court can deal with only the accused referred to in Section 209 of the Code. There is no intermediary stage till then for the Sessions Court to add any other person to the array of the accused. Thus, once the Sessions Court takes cognizance of the offence pursuant to the committal order, the only other stage when the court is empowered to add any other person to the array of the accused is after reaching evidence collection when powers under Section 319 of the Code can be invoked.”

What is essential for the purpose of the section is that there should appear some evidence against a person not proceeded against and the stage of the proceedings is irrelevant. Where the complainant is circumspect in proceeding against several persons, but the court is of the opinion that there appears to be some evidence pointing to the complicity of some other persons as well, Section 319 CrPC acts as an empowering provision enabling the court/Magistrate to initiate proceedings against such other persons.

The purpose of Section 319 CrPC is to do complete justice and to ensure that persons who ought to have been tried as well are also tried. Therefore, there does not appear to be any difficulty in invoking powers of Section 319 CrPC at the stage of the trial in a complaint case when the evidence of the complainant as well as his witnesses are being recorded.

Thus, the application of the provisions of Section 319 CrPC, at the stage of inquiry is to be understood in its correct perspective. The power under Section 319 CrPC can be exercised only on the basis of the evidence adduced before the court during a trial. So far as its application during the course of inquiry is concerned, it remains limited as referred to hereinabove, adding a person as an accused, whose name has been mentioned in Column 2 of the charge sheet or any other person who might be an accomplice.

It has been held by the Supreme Court in Hardeep Singh v. State of Punjab, AIR 2014 SC 1400 that after filing the charge sheet, the Court reaches the stage of inquiry, and as soon as the Court frames the charges, the trial commences, and therefore, the power under section 319(1) of CrPC can be exercised at any time after the charge-sheet is filed and before the pronouncement of judgment.

Except during the stage of sections 207/208 of CrPC, committal, etc., which is only a pre-trial stage, intended to put the process into motion. This stage cannot be said to be a judicial step in the pure sense for it only requires an application of mind rather than a judicial application of mind.

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