Uttarakhand High Court
Smt. Kamla Devi vs State Of Uttarakhand And Three Others on 6 September, 2024
Author: Alok Kumar Verma
Bench: Alok Kumar Verma
2024:UHC:6455
IN THE HIGH COURT OF UTTARAKHAND
AT NAINITAL
THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE ALOK KUMAR VERMA
06th SEPTEMBER, 2024
CRIMINAL REVISION NO.134 of 2015
Smt. Kamla Devi .....Revisionist
Versus
State of Uttarakhand and three Others .....Respondents
Counsel for the Revisionist : Mr. Prabhakar Joshi,
Advocate.
Counsel for the : Mr. V.K. Gemini,
Respondent No.1. Deputy Advocate
General assisted by
Mr. Rakesh Negi,
Brief Holder.
Counsel for the Respondent : Mrs. Sarita Bisht,
Nos.2 to 4. Advocate holding
brief of Mr. R.S.
Sammal, Advocate.
With
CRIMINAL REVISION NO.208 of 2015
State of Uttarakhand .....Revisionist
Versus
Deepu alias Bhupendra Rana and four Others
.....Respondents
Counsel for the : Mr. V.K. Gemini,
Revisionist Deputy Advocate
General assisted by
Mr. Rakesh Negi,
Brief Holder.
Counsel for the Respondent : Mrs. Sarita Bisht,
Nos.1 to 5. Advocate holding
brief of Mr. R.S.
Sammal, Advocate.
1
2024:UHC:6455
Hon'ble Alok Kumar Verma,J.
The case of the prosecution is that Smt.
Kamla Devi (revisionist) lodged an FIR on 09.06.2014
that she is a member of scheduled caste. Deepu Singh,
Mukesh Singh, Kallu Singh, Inder Singh and Sonu
Singh had booked her son Harish Chandra's taxi
bearing Registration No.UK01-1134 on 07.06.2014 for
the wedding ceremony. They had taken her son to
Chaukhutiya market. They had committed murder of
her son and drowned him in the river. The First
Information Report was registered against Deepu
Singh, Mukesh Singh, Inder Singh, Kallu Singh and
Sonu Singh under Section 302 of the Indian Penal
Code, 1860 (in short, "IPC") and Section 120B IPC. The
Investigating Officer had filed a charge-sheet against
the co-accused Deepu alias Bhupendra Singh and
Surendra Singh alias Sonu under Section 302 IPC,
Section 120B IPC and Section 3(2)(V) of the Scheduled
Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of
Atrocities) Act, 1989. After examining Smt. Kamla Devi
(PW1) and Shyam Lal (PW2), the prosecution had filed
an Application under Section 319 of the Code of
Criminal Procedure, 1973 (in short, "Code") to
prosecute Inder Singh, Mukesh Singh and Kallu Singh
along with co-accused Deepu alias Bhupendra Singh
2024:UHC:6455
and Surendra Singh alias Sonu. The said application
has been dismissed vide impugned order dated
21.03.2015, passed by learned Special Judge/Sessions
Judge, Almora in Special Sessions Trial No.18 of 2014.
2. The Criminal Revision No.134 of 2015 will be
treated as a leading case.
3. Mr. Prabhakar Joshi, learned counsel for the
revisionist-Smt. Kamla Devi. Mr. V.K. Gemini, learned
Deputy Advocate General assisted by Mr. Rakesh Negi,
learned Brief Holder for State. Mrs. Sarita Bisht,
learned counsel holding brief of Mr. R.S. Sammal,
learned counsel for private respondents.
4. Heard learned counsel for the parties and
perused the record.
5. It is an admitted fact between the parties
that the accused Deepu alias Bhupendra Singh and
accused Surendra Singh alias Sonu were acquitted by
the trial court and the appeal, filed by the State,
against the acquittal has been dismissed. Hence, the
judgment of the acquittal has become final.
6. Section 319 of the Code is quoted
hereunder:-
"319. Power to proceed against other
persons appearing to be guilty of offence.-
2024:UHC:6455
(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.
(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 sub-section (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
2024:UHC:6455
cognizance of the offence upon which the
inquiry or trial was commenced".
7. The basic requirements for invoking Section
319 of the code is that it should appear to the Court
from the evidence collected during enquiry or trial that
some other person, who is not arraigned as an accused
in the case, had committed an offence for which that
person can be tried together with the accused already
arraigned.
8. In Sukhpal Singh Khaira Vs. State of
Punjab, (2023) 1 SCC 289, the Hon'ble Supreme
Court has held that the power under Section 319 of the
Code is to be invoked and exercised before the
pronouncement of the order of sentence where there is
a judgment of conviction of the accused. In the case of
acquittal, the power should be exercised before the
order of acquittal is pronounced. Hence, the
summoning order has to precede the conclusion of trial
by imposition of sentence in the case of conviction. If
the order is passed on the same day, it will have to be
examined on the facts and circumstances of each case
and if such summoning order is passed either after the
order of acquittal or imposing sentence in the case of
conviction, the same will not be sustainable.
9. In view of the law laid down by the Hon'ble
2024:UHC:6455
Supreme Court in Sukhpal Singh Khaira (Supra),
these Revisions are liable to be dismissed; the same
are dismissed.
10. A copy of this judgment be placed on the
record of the connected Criminal Revision No.208 of
2015.
___________________
ALOK KUMAR VERMA, J.
Dt:06.09.2024
NEHA
DN: c=IN, o=HIGH COURT OF UTTARAKHAND,
2.5.4.20=6f1c15b6305912b3f008e9a4a8038ee7326
b08b2d0e018b01be753f014836d27,
BISHT
postalCode=263001, st=UTTARAKHAND,
serialNumber=3D89DC33779FB9677068452F32DE6
BA960BFE64D819EE44CA9CCE487B2FE0F92,
cn=NEHA BISHT
Date: 2024.09.10 17:33:29 +05'30'
