IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS
DATED: 05/08/2003
CORAM
THE HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE M.CHOCKALINGAM
C.A.No.952 of 2002
Murugan .. Appellant
-Vs-
State by Inspector of Police
NIB CID, Salem. .. Respondent
This criminal appeal is preferred under Sec.374 of The Code of
Criminal Procedure against the judgment of the Special Judge (NDPS Act), Salem
made in C.C.No.242 of 1999 and dated 25.9.2000.
!For Appellant : Mr.R.C.Paul Kanagaraj
^For Respondent : Mr.V.Jaya Prakash Narayanan
Government Advocate (Crl. Side)
:JUDGMENT
What is challenged herein is the judgment of the learned Special Judge
(NDPS Act), Salem made in C.C.No.242/99 wherein the appellant/ accused stood
charged, tried and found guilty under Sec.8(c) read with 21 of the N.D.P.S.
Act and sentenced to undergo R.I. for 10 years and to pay a fine of Rs.1.00
lakh in default to undergo 2 years R.I.
2. The brief facts necessary for the disposal of this appeal can be
stated thus:
On 30.8.1999, P.W.1 Veerannan Sub Inspector of Police, NIB CID and
P.W.4 Velliangari and teammates were on regular supervision. On information
from an informer, they reached Thathakapatti gate. The accused was pointed to
P.W.1 by the informer. P.W.1 introduced himself and questioned the accused.
He asked the accused whether he was carrying contraband. He informed the
accused that he wanted to effect a search. The right of the accused under the
Act to be searched before a gazetted Officer or a Magistrate was also informed
to him. The accused replied that he could be searched by P.W.1. P.W.1
arrested the accused in front of Ganesan. Inspector of Police, Anadhanapatti
Police Station, Venkatesan, Head Constable and Krishnan, Head Constable. The
accused was enquired in front of P.W.2 Elango and P.W.5 Rajendran. The
consent given by the accused was reduced in writing by the Head Constable as
dictated by P.W.1 and it was duly signed by the accused, marked as Ex.P1. On
one side of the yellow colour bag marked as M.O.1, held by the accused, there
was an advertisement by Prabu Jewellery, 150 Main Road, Salem. The polythene
bag which was inside the yellow colour bag contained brown colour material
weighing 100 grams. P. W.1 put a hole in the polythene bag and took 1 gram
of powder for sample and came to know that it was brown sugar. Two samples
weighing 5 grams each were taken for chemical analysis, and the balance
weighing 89 grams was tied separately under M.O.3. Ex.P3 is the seizure
mahazar. The accused was arrested, and he gave a confessional statement under
Ex.P2. A case in Crime No.68 of 1999 was registered under Ss 8 C and 21 of
the NDPS Act. Ex.P4 printed FIR was sent to the concerned Court, and the
documents were forwarded to the higher officials. Ex.P5 express report was
forwarded to the Inspector of Police. The accused and the contraband were
produced before the Court under Form 95 . The Court sample is marked as
M.O.2. The bag containing the contraband received from the Forensic Lab is
marked as M.O.4. P.W.6 Sankarapandiyan, Inspector of Police on receipt of the
documents from P.W.1 on 30.8.99 at about 1.50 P.M., enquired the accused and
recorded his statement. The statement of the accused was forwarded to the
Judicial Magistrate No.IV, Salem. P.W.6 along with his teammates searched the
house of the accused in front of the witnesses and found no incriminating
materials. The search report is marked as Ex.P8. He prepared Ex.P9 sketch in
the place of occurrence. The accused was remanded to judicial custody. He
recorded statements from the witnesses. The material objects were sent to
Forensic Lab through Court. P.W.3 Ezhilarasi, an Officer in the Forensic Lab
received the sample on 6.9.1999 and tested the same. P.W.3 gave a report
under Ex.P6 opining that the said sample contained Di Acetyle Morphine
(Heroin). P.W.6 received Ex.P6 report. He examined P.W.3 and recorded her
statement. On completion of the investigation, he filed a charge sheet
against the accused under Ss 8C and 21 of NDPS Act.
3. In order to prove the charges levelled against the accused, the
prosecution examined 6 witnesses and marked 9 exhibits and 4 material objects.
After the evidence of the prosecution was over, the appellant/accused was
questioned under Sec.313 of Cr.P.C. as to the incriminating circumstances
found in the evidence of the prosecution witnesses, which he flatly denied as
false. No defence witness was examined. Neither any exhibit nor any material
object was marked on the side of the defence. On consideration of the rival
submissions and scrutiny of the materials, the trial Court found him guilty
under S.8C read with 21 of the NDPS Act and sentenced him to undergo
imprisonment, as stated supra. Hence, this appeal.
4. Arguing for the appellant, the learned Counsel Mr.R.C.Paul
Kanagaraj interalia raised the following submissions:
The lower Court has not considered the entire evidence to base a
conviction. It is pertinent to note that the information, by which the
Inspector arrested the accused and seized the contraband, was neither reduced
in writing nor sent to the immediate superior officer. The same is violative
of Sec.42(2) of the NDPS Act, and on that ground alone, the trial became
vitiated. P.W.1 after the alleged seizure, handed over the property to P.W.6,
and P.W.6 has not affixed the seal on the properties, which was violative of
Sec.55 of the NDPS Act. It remains to be stated that there is no report under
Sec.57 of the Act sent by P.W.1 to his immediate superior regarding seizure
and arrest. In view of the non-compliance of Sec.57 of the Act, the
conviction against the appellant is bad in law. P.W.4 has stated that the
Inspector of Police from Annathanapatti Police Station arrested the accused,
which is contrary to the evidence of P.W.1, who deposed that he has arrested
the accused. It is pertinent to note that there is no independent
corroboration regarding the alleged search and seizure. According to P.W.4,
he brought the accused to his vehicle and prepared the mahazar in that
vehicle. But a reading of the evidence of P.W.1 would indicate that the
preparation of mahazar and seizure had been done on the spot itself. In view
of the above said non-compliance of the provisions of the Act, the
appellant/accused is entitled for an acquittal.
5. Added further the learned Counsel for the appellant that the
entire trial is vitiated, since the appellant/accused was not properly
questioned under Sec.313 of Cr.P.C. informing him the actual incriminating
circumstances found in the evidence of the prosecution witnesses, and thus a
valuable right of the accused was taken away, and the same has caused
prejudice to him, and hence, on that score also the judgment of the lower
Court has got to be set aside.
6. The learned Government Advocate (Criminal Side) opposed those
contentions of the appellant’s side strongly by stating that the trial Court
only on proper appreciation of the evidence available, has found him guilty;
that the prosecution has clearly proved the illegal possession of the
contraband by the accused at the time of search, and apart from that, all the
procedural formalities as contemplated under the NDPS Act had been strictly
complied with by the officials. Added further the learned Government Advocate
that the contention of the appellant’s side that the trial Court has not
properly examined the accused under Sec.313 of Cr.P.C. is not correct, and no
prejudice has also been caused to him, and hence, the judgment of the lower
Court has got to be sustained.
7. On careful analysis of the entire materials available and
consideration of the rival submissions, the Court without going into the
merits or otherwise of the rival contentions as to the merits of the case and
as to the question whether the mandatory provisions of the NDPS Act were
strictly followed by the officials at the time of the alleged search and
arrest, has to set aside the judgment of the Court below on the short ground
that the trial Court after the completion of the evidence on the side of the
prosecution has neither properly framed the questions nor put them to the
appellant/accused so as to make him understand of the incriminating
circumstances found against him in the evidence adduced by the prosecution, as
envisaged under Sec.313 of Cr.P.C.
8. The learned Counsel for the appellant brought to the notice of the
Court certain vital questions which were not properly framed. It is true that
questioning under Sec.313 of Cr.P.C. as to the incriminating circumstances in
the evidence of the prosecution witnesses was intended to make the accused
understand what was the evidence adduced against him by the prosecution
witnesses. If the incriminating circumstances found in the evidence of the
prosecution witnesses were not put to the accused under Sec.313 of Cr.P.C.,
they should be completely excluded from consideration, since the accused was
not given any chance to explain them. This Court has uniformly taken the view
that unless the circumstance appearing against the accused is put to him in
his examination under Sec.313 of Cr.P.C., the same cannot be used against him.
Needless to say that it is a valuable right available to him, and it is not an
empty formality. The Apex Court has held in a decision reported in AIR 1962
SUPREME COURT 1239 (RAMA SHANKAR SINGH AND OTHERS V. STATE OF WEST BENGAL)
thus:
“Duty is thereby imposed upon the Court to question the accused generally in a
case after the witnesses for the prosecution have been examined to enable the
accused to explain any circumstance appearing against him. This is a
necessary corollary of the presumption of innocence on which our criminal
jurisprudence is founded. The object of the section is to afford to the
accused an opportunity of showing that the circumstance relied upon by the
prosecution which may be prima facie against him, is not true or is consistent
with his innocence. The opportunity must be real and adequate. Questions
must be so framed as to give to the accused clear notice of the circumstances
relied upon by the prosecution, and must give him an opportunity to render
such explanation as he can of that circumstance. Each question must be so
framed that the accused may be able to understand it and to appreciate what
use the prosecution desires to make of the evidence against him. Examination
of the accused under S.342 is not intended to be an idle formality, it has to
be carried out in the interest of justice and fair play to the accused: by a
slipshod examination which is the result of imperfect appreciation of the
evidence, idleness or negligence the position of the accused cannot be
permitted to be made more difficult than what it is in a trial for an offence.
This Court pointed out in Ajmer Singh v. State of Punjab, 1953 SCR 418 :
(AIR 1953 SC 7 6) that “it is not a sufficient compliance with the section
(S.342 Code of Criminal Procedure) to generally ask the accused that having
heard the prosecution evidence what he has to say about it. He must be
questioned separately about each material circumstance which is intended to be
used against him. The whole object of the section is to afford the accused a
fair and proper opportunity of explaining circumstances which appear against
him and the questions must be fair and must be couched in a form which an
ignorant or illiterate person may be able to appreciate and understand.” The
examination by the Sessions Judge of the appellants was perfunctory, but as
observed in Ajmer Singh’s case, 1953 SCR 418 : (AIR 1953 SC 76) every error
or omission in complying with S.342 does not vitiate the trial. “Errors of
this type fall within the category of curable irregularities and the question
whether the trial has been vitiated depends in each case upon the degree of
error and upon whether prejudice has been or is likely to have been caused to
the accused”. To the questions asked by the Judge, the answers given by the
appelants were either “I am innocent” or ” the story is false”. Failure on
the part of the Sessions Judge to split up the questions so as to deal with
each distinct feature or material piece of evidence separately, however, does
not, in the circumstances of the present case, justify an inference that
prejudice was thereby caused to the appellants. Counsel for the appellants
has not been able to suggest, having regard to the line of cross-examination
adopted and the criticism of the evidence of the prosecution witnesses offered
by him, what explanation besides complete denial of the prosecution story, the
appellants could have offered in answer to the questions relating to the
different circumstances and pieces or features of evidence on which the
prosecution relied. It is true that the prosecution strongly relied upon two
circumstances against Bimala (1) that when she came out of the house of Ramdeo
Ahir, she had a bloodstained knife in her hand and (2) that when she was
arrested from the godown of Bhola Singh, the knife was in her hand. To these
matters of evidence attention of the accused Bimala does not appear to have
been invited. Similarly, attention of Ram Shankar to the evidence that when
he came out of the room of Ramdeo Ahir, he had a knife in his hand was not
invited. But we have already observed beyond a bare denial, the learned
counsel was unable to suggest any other answer which the accused could give to
these pieces of evidence even if they had been specifically put to them. It
is also to be noticed that the plea that the appellants had not been properly
examined under S.342 of the Code of Criminal Procedure was not raised before
the High Court : at least there is no reference in the judgment of the High
Court to any such argument. Failure to comply with the provisions of S.342 is
an irregularity; and unless injustice is shown to have resulted therefrom a
mere irregularity is by itself not sufficient to justify an order of retrial.
The appellate court must always consider whether by reason of failure to
comply with a procedural provision, which does not affect the jurisdiction of
the court, the accused have been materially prejudiced.”
9. In the instant case, the lower Court has not framed the necessary
questions regarding the contraband, the very subject matter of the case, and
hence, it has caused prejudice to the interest of the accused. Therefore, in
the absence of proper framing of question and putting the same to the accused
in respect of the vital aspects of the matter, in particular the contraband in
question marked as M.O.1 and in consideration of the valuable right of the
accused, the Court has to necessarily set aside the judgment of the Court
below and remand the matter back to the trial Court for disposal in accordance
with law.
10. In the result, this criminal appeal is allowed, setting aside the
judgment of the lower Court. The matter is remitted back to the trial Court
with a direction to keep the evidence already recorded by it, proceed with the
questioning of the appellant/accused under Sec.31 3 of Cr.P.C. and dispose of
the case in accordance with law within a period of two months from the date of
receipt of copy of this judgment.
Index: Yes
Internet: Yes
To:
1) The Special Judge (NDPS Act), Salem.
2) The Principal Sessions Judge, Salem.
3) The Superintendent, Central Prison, Vellore.
4) The Public Prosecutor, High Court, Madras.
5) The D.I.G. of Police, Chennai 4.
6) Mr.V.Jaya Prakash Narayanan, Government Advocate
(Crl. Side), High Court, Madras.
7) The Inspector of Police, NIB CID, Salem.
8) The Section Officer, Criminal Section, High Court, Madras
nsv/