Person Once Discharged Can Also Be Added As Accused U/S 319 CrPC Based On New Materials [Read Judgment]

“Since, at an earlier point of time the supplementary chargesheet was ignored by the Trial Court while discharging the appellant, there is no bar to proceed against him under Section 319 Cr.P.C. based on the supplementary charge-sheet, that too when sufficient material is brought on record against him during the course of trial.”

The Supreme Court recently upheld a trial court order under Section 319 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, summoning some accused who were discharged by it earlier, ignoring the supplementary charge sheet against them.

Seven persons, including Deepu @ Deepak, were accused of the offence of murder and robbery. The trial court discharged Deepu and four others, ignoring the supplementary charge sheet against them. Though it recalled the order of discharge, the Supreme Court had ultimately set aside the order on the ground that there is no provision to review or recall the order.

During the trial of the other two accused, the prosecution filed an application under Section 319 of the Cr.P.C. The trial court, allowed the application, being satisfied about the existence of ample material against the appellant to proceed against him on the basis of the supplementary charge sheet, Test Identification Parade, Forensic Science Laboratory report and statements of witnesses recorded under Section 161 of the Cr.P.C., as well as depositions of witnesses, issued summons to the appellant herein and thereafter proceeded to frame charges against him. The Madhya Pradesh High Court affirmed the said order.

On the appeal filed by the summoned accused, the bench comprising Justice NV Ramana and Justice Mohan M Shantanagoudar agreed with the trial court view that the material is sufficient, prima facie, to proceed against the accused for the offence which he appears to have committed.

It said: “Since, at an earlier point of time the supplementary chargesheet was ignored by the Trial Court while discharging the appellant, there is no bar to proceed against him under Section 319 Cr.P.C. based on the supplementary charge-sheet, that too when sufficient material is brought on record against him during the course of trial. The supplementary chargesheet shows that the identification parade was held, wherein the appellant was identified by the witnesses as one of the accused who participated in the incident of murder. The combined effect of the FSL reports as well as the statements of witnesses recorded under Section 161 of the Cr.P.C. as found in the supplementary charge-sheet and depositions of PW5 (Sreshtha), PW6 (Mukul Gupta), PW7 (Shyam Bihari), PW8 (Rajaram) and PW12 (N. K. Upadhyaya) fully justifies the orders of the Trial Court and the High Court under Section 319 of the Cr.P.C. The Courts on facts have correctly found that the material is sufficient, prima facie, to proceed against the appellant for the offence which he appears to have committed, and we concur with their decision.”

Read the Judgment Here