Trial of Summon Case Under Cr.P.C.: A Critical Analysis

I. Introduction

The term “summons cases” has been delimited, during a negative sense, under the Section 2(w) of the Cr.P.C. The Summon can be issued by the Magistrate to the accused under the section 204(1)(a) of the Cr.P.C, 1973. A Summon Case can be considered as a case which deals with an offence which is not being any warrant case, involving all cases which is related to the offences which is punishable with imprisonment not more than two years. In respect of summons cases, it is not necessary to frame a charge.³ Summon cases are those cases in which the amount of punishment will not be more than imprisonment for two years. Summon cases are not of very serious nature, so it needs to be decided fast, without passing out the requisites of the fair trial. The procedure to deal with such matter is mentioned under the Section 251 to 259 of the Cr.P.C, 1973 which is not as much serious as the other trials.

II. General overview about summon

Section 251 of the Code of Criminal Procedure allows that when, in the summon-cases, the condemned shows up or is when brought before the Magistrate, the details of the offense of which he is being charged must be given to him, and he shall also be asked that whether he concedes, or has any protection to make. In the event that the condemned concedes, the Magistrate should have to record his solicitation as almost as conceivable in the words used by the charged himself, and may, in his understanding, can also convict him on such a request. In this way, nevertheless of the possibility that a charged confesses, the Magistrate will have to surely convict him, in the event that he supposes it important to have confirmation of his blame.

On accepting a plea of liable from the condemned, the Magistrate may upon his discretion, in his care, convict the blamed in his non-appearance, and sentence him to give the fine as indicated in the summons. Where a counsel agreed by the blamed acknowledges for sake for the charged, the Magistrate should have to record the request as a head of schedule as imaginable in the expressions of the Counsel, in his carefulness, can also convict the condemned on such supplication, and sentence him as expressed earlier.

Assuming, be that as it may, the Magistrate does not convict the condemned as above, he shall have to resume to hear the accusation, and take all such evidence as might be produced in order to help the indictment, and also furthermore perceive the charged and withdraw all such confirmation as might be delivered by him with all due respect.

On an application by the accusation or the blamed, the Magistrate may also, on the off chance that he thinks fit, issue a summons to any witness, directing him to go to or also to produce any record or the other thing. Before summoning any such witness, the Magistrate may require that the sensible costs of such observers in going to the trial should be rescued in the Court. After taking all the proof by the Magistrate, if the Magistrate discovers that the accused is not guilty, he must note an order of acquittal.

If, on the other hand, he realized the accused guilty, he must have to pass the sentence to him based on the law, unless the Magistrate concludes the whole proceedings to the Chief Judicial Magistrate, on the basis that he cannot pass a sentence which is being sufficiently harsh in the circumstances, or if after conviction, the Magistrate orders the accused to be leave free on probation. It is also specifically mentioned that a Magistrate can also convict the accused of any offence which may also be tried under the Chapter XX, which from the facts proved, he seems to have committed, whatever may be the nature of the summons, if the magistrate is satisfied that the accused would not be prejudiced thereby (Section 255).

III. Procedure of trial in summon-cases

• Explanation of the particulars of the offence

Section 251 explains that it is not mandatory to frame the charges but the section does not waive off with the explanation of the details of the offence when the accused is being taken or appear before the Court. This is in order to produce the accused cognizant for the allegations which is being made against him. If in case unable to carry the details then this will not pervert the trial and it also doesn’t lead to the prejudice with the accused as this irregularity can be remediable under the section 465 of the Cr.P.C.⁴ Under the section 251, the courts should have to demand the accused whether the accused pleads guilty or not, and the section 252 and 253 needs to follow for conviction on such plea of guilty.

• Conviction on plea of guilty

Section 252 and 253 grants conviction on the prayer of guilty. Section 252 also allows the prayer of guilty in general and the section 253 authorizes prayer of guilty in case of the minor cases. In case accused entreated guilty, the answer is affirmative than in accordance with the law court will have to record the prayer in the exact words which has been stated by the accused based on which the accused may be convicted on the Court’s discretion. If not affirmative then the court needs to go further with the Section 254. If the accused plead guilty, and the charges against him doesn’t constitute any offence than mere prayer can’t amount to the conviction of the accused. As the magistrate has the discretion to convict on the prayer or not, if on prayer the accused got convicted then the magistrate should have to proceed with the reference to the Section 360, otherwise have to hear the accused on the question of sentence and sentence him based on the law. If the plea of guilty is not accepted by the Magistrate, then magistrate should proceed have to proceed with reference to the Section 254 of Cr.P.C.

If the defendant pleads guilty, the justice should record the prayer as nearly as attainable within the words utilized by the defendant and should, in his own discretion can convict him on that basis. If the defendant reveals some or all of the fees alleged by the prosecution however pleads “not guilty”, the court is under the obligation to proceed as per the law by examining the witnesses of prosecution and defense.

Procedure if the accused not convicted on plea

Section 254 talks about both prosecution and defense case if the accused not convicted on plea under the Section 252 and 253 of the Cr.P.C.

Prosecution case

The magistrate shall have to hear the accused and admit all the evidence brought up by the accused. In the hearing, the prosecution gets a chance to open its case by putting facts and circumstances which form the case and by disclosing the evidence which he relied upon to prove his case. The magistrate on the request of the prosecution, can issue summon to any of the witness to address and to give any document or thing. The magistrate shall have to prepare the memorandum of the evidence with reference to the Section 274 of the code. Same as other trials in summon cases also the magistrate shall have to obey with the Section 279 i.e., the interpretation of the evidence to the accused and Section 280 i.e., recording of the appearance of the witnesses.

Hearing of the defense: – (Defense Case)

After the prosecution evidence under the Section 254 and perusal of defense under the Section 313 of the code, in the prolongation of this, the court shall have to proceed with the defense hearing under the section 254(1). In the hearing of the defense means accused shall be requested for accused say against the prosecution evidence. Failure of hearing of the accused in any case shall leads to the fundamental error in the criminal trial process and it couldn’t be cured under section 465 of the code. Evidence given by the accused shall also be recorded in the same manner as in case of prosecution under section 274, 279, 280 of the code. After the acceptance of the evidence of the defense, he shall be allowed to submit his arguments before the magistrate under the Section 314 of the code.

Acquittal or conviction

After noting down the evidence under the Section 254 of the code, the magistrate shall have to absolve the accused if he discovers that the accused is not guilty. If the accused is guilty then the Magistrate will proceed with respect to the Section 360 or 325of the code, otherwise, sentence him as per the law. If the official once considering proof discovers the defendant acquitted, he will have to record associate order of final decision. He can additionally come up with to unleash the bad person once admonition, or on probation of excellent conduct once under the Section 360, or beneath Probation of bad person Act,1958 once contemplating the character of offence, character of bad person and circumstances of the case. An official might convict the defendant of any offence that from the facts evidenced the defendant appears to own committed, this would merely be done if the official is happy that it could not prejudice the defendant.

If the official, whereas discharging the defendant, assumes that there were no cheap ground for creating accusation against the defendant person, he can give decision upon the person making such accusation to point out the cause on why he shall not pay compensation to the defendant person once that the official can, for reasons to be recorded, erect associate order fixing the compensation to be reimbursed by such person to the defendant.

Non-appearance or the death of the complainant

As per the Section 256 of the code, on the date riveted for the appearance of the accused non-existence of the complainant will authorize the court to absolve the accused unless the court has any reason to withdraw the case to some other day. Section 256(1) is also relevant in case of the death of the complainant. In case the representative of the dead complainant does not appear for 15 days where the defendant looked, the defendant may be acquitted as been held by the Supreme Court.⁵

The court may convert any summons case into a warrant case

Section 259 of the Cr.P.C. speaks that if within the course of the trial of a summons case regarding an offence punishable with imprisonment exceptional six months, it appears to the judges that within the interests of justice, the offence requisite to be tried according to the procedure for trial of warrant cases, he can also proceed to re-hear the case within the manner which is mentioned under the Code for the trial of warrant cases and even recollect any witness United Nations agency might are examined.

IV. Discharge in case of Summon cases

Section 258 of the code authorizes the first-class Magistrate, with the prior sanction of the Chief Judicial Magistrate, to stop the proceeding at any point of the stage. Therefore, if he stopped the proceeding ‘after recording the evidence’ then it is the proclamation of a judgment of acquittal, and in case stops ‘before recording the evidence’ it is free which has the result of the discharge.

The issue was first dealt-with at length by the Supreme Court in the case of K. M. Matthew v. State of Kerala,⁶ where the accused had pursued recalling of the summoning order in a Summons Case. Though the dispute regarding the discharge was being resolved by the magistrate court in the case of Rooplal Jindal⁷ and the same position was held for a long time but in the case of Bhushan Kumar v. State (NCT of Delhi),⁸ the Hon’ble Supreme Court held that magistrate has the power to discharge in Summons case, this decision of Bhushan Kumar case⁹ was later followed in number of decisions and in the case of Urrshila Kerkar v. Make My Trip (India) Private Ltd,¹⁰ the Hon’ble court held that, “It is no doubt true that Apex Court in Adalat Prasad v. Rooplal Jindal and Ors¹¹. has held that “there cannot be calling back of summoning order”, but can be seen in the backdrop of decisions of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Bhushan Kumar¹² and Krishan Kumar case¹³, aforementioned decision could not be misconstrued to mean that once summoning order has been passed, then trial must follow. If it was to be so, then what is the objective of hearing accused at the stage of framing Notice under the Section 251 of Cr.P.C. In the considered opinion of this Court, Supreme Court's decision in Adalat Prasad Case¹⁴ may not possibly be misread to mean that the proceedings in the summons complaint case could not be dropped against any accused at the stage of framing of Notice under the Section 251 of Cr.P.C. even if a prima facie case is not coped."

It is contended that in summon case instated on complaint Magistrate do not have any power of dropping of the case even if he had not any sufficient ground to go against the accused. This is because the fact that if the Magistrate does so then he shall have to recall his own order. The Hon’ble Supreme Court noticed in several cases that the issue of process is meanwhile order of the Magistrate, not the judgment so it can be called back by the magistrate. No provision is needed to authorize the magistrate to drop the case in any such circumstances.¹⁵ In summon cases on complaint, the Magistrate could not discharge, review and call back the order of the issue of the process. “There is no dropping of the case, the trial court has to bind up the trial”.¹⁶ In summon cases, the Magistrate of the trial court had no power to let fall the proceeding in the absence of such provision mentioned in the law. A person can also go to the High Court under the Section 482 of Cr.P.C in any such circumstances.¹⁷ There is no provision of discharge in summon cases instated on complaint accused shall either be convicted or acquitted.¹⁸

V. Critical analysis

The trial of the summon cases is less orderly than the other trial procedure just for the fast remedy. So, the Section 258 of the code which does not allow the Magistrate to drop any case, even in the absence of sufficient ground is somehow being prejudicial to the accused. The Supreme Court’s opinion in K.M. Matthew case¹⁹ was that “the Magistrate has inherent power to drop the case if allegation which is made against accused did not prove the happening of any crime”. In various judicial decision, it has diverged. In Arvind Kejriwal case,²⁰ the Hon’ble Supreme Court ruled that “the law did not specifically authorize the Magistrate in regard to dropping of the case under the Section 258 and give the case to the high court to inquire with it under Section 482 of the code”. But the point needs to be considered that the High court also again have to see into the case to know whether there is any justifiable ground to go against the accused, all this shall hinder the main aim and objective of the summon case i.e., the speedy and the fast trial. Though this matter was inscribed before the Supreme court in various cases, it must be scrutinized again to keep the fair trial and the right of the accused out of danger in any such circumstances.

VI. Conclusion

The term “Summons Cases” has been delimited, during a negative sense, under the Section 2(w) of the Cr.P.C. The trial procedure provided for summons cases is sterile of a lot of formality and item as in warrant cases since the previous is less serious in nature comparatively with the warrant cases. Chapter XX (Ss. 251-259) of the Criminal Procedure Code outlined the procedure which has been followed during the trial of the summons cases under the Cr.P.C. A Summon Case means a case which is related to an offence which is not being any warrant case, involving all cases which is related to the offences which is punishable with imprisonment which is not more than two years. In respect of summons cases, there is not necessary to frame any formal charge. The court directs substance of the accusation, which is called notice, to the accused when the person goes in pursuance to the summons.

In light of Section 251 of the Cr.P.C., the Magistrate is mandated to explain the information of the offence of which the accused is being prosecuted. According to the Section 252 of the code, if the accused pleads guilty, the Magistrate will have to take the note his plea as much as possible in the words which has been stated by the accused. Section 253 of Cr.P.C. is an exception to the general rule which gives a simple procedure for inclining of minor cases without the presence of accused in court by post and through the messenger also. By this provision discretion lies with the Magistrate to convict the accused. It also authorizes the counsels authorized by the accused to plead guilty before the magistrate on behalf of his client when offence is punishable only with the fine. So, as per the Section 254 of Cr.P.C., if the accused is not convicted under Section 252 or 253 of the code, the court should have to hear the prosecution and also is under the obligation to collect the information lead by the prosecution and also have to listen the accused and do all such evidence as he gives in his defense. Section 255 of the Cr.P.C. talks about the acquittal or the conviction. Section 256 of the Cr.P.C. tells about the condition of non-appearance or death of the complainant. Section 257 of the Cr.P.C. states about the cancellation of complaint subject to the satisfaction of the Magistrate.

Subsequently, this section applied to the summons cases. Section 258 of the Cr.P.C. talks about the powers to end the proceeding in certain cases. Section 259 of the Cr.P.C. authorizes the Magistrate to convert a summons case into warrant case in two conditions: (1) if the offence is punishable with imprisonment exceeding six months, & (2) if he is of the view that it will be in the interest of justice to try such case with respect to the procedure for the trial of the warrant cases. Section 274 of the Cr.P.C. states about the record in the summons cases and inquires. The Magistrate will, as the examination of each witness proceeds, prepare a memorandum of the substance of his evidence in the language which is followed in the Court. Therefore, if the magistrate is not able to prepare such memorandum himself, he will, after recording the reason of his inability, cause such memorandum to be made in writing.

Basically, there is no difference in the procedure between trail of summons cases instated on private complaints and trial of summons cases instated on the police charge-sheets. The only thing where there is difference between the two types of cases was that in summons cases instituted on the police charge-sheet, the Magistrate shall see that copies of documents mentioned under the Section 207 of the code are supplied to the accused as soon as he goes or is being brought before the Court, and the same is no more a good practice, as now the accused persons are authorized to the Copies irrespective of categorization.

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