State the powers of a criminal court to make a local inspection in any inquiry, trial, or other proceedings.

Question: State the power of a criminal court to make a local inspection in any inquiry, trial, or other proceedings.

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Answer

The power of a criminal court to conduct a local inspection is given under Section 310 of the Criminal Procedure Code. The power of local inspection can be exercised at any stage of the inquiry or trial, even before the evidence is recorded.

The exercise of this power is discretionary, the discretion depending on the facts and circumstances of each case, the only condition to be fulfilled is that the Court must be of opinion that it is necessary to view the place for the purpose of properly appreciating the evidence. However, the observations made by the Court during its inspection cannot be treated as a part of the evidence in the case. They can only be used to properly appreciate the evidence given at the trial.

Local inspection of the place of occurrence of offence, either on the application of parties or suo motu is made only for the purpose of appreciating the evidence of the case and for no other purpose. It cannot be used for the preparation of the background for appreciating the evidence of witnesses because preparation of the background is to be made by the parties themselves, and the Magistrate is not expected to supply that lacuna in evidence by local inspection.

In-State of MP v. Mishrilal, 2003 Cr LJ 2312 (SC) : (2003) 9 SCC 426, spot inspection by the trial judge clearly suggested a deficiency of evidence on the point of the place of occurrence. The trial judge should, in such cases, record the memo of inspection.

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