Important Supreme court and bombay HC judgments on statement of accused U/S 313 of CRPC

 

1) Supreme Court : The court must consider any alternate version of events or interpretation of incident stated by accused in her statement U/S 313 of CRPC.

REPORTABLE

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA

CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION

CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 283 of 2011

Parminder Kaur @ P.P. Kaur @ Soni Vs State of Punjab 

Author :SURYA KANT, J.

Dated: 28.07.2020.

Citation: 2020(8) SCC 811.

https://www.lawweb.in/2024/04/supreme-court-court-must-consider-any.html

2) Bombay HC: The court should not put to accused U/S 313 of CRPC, material appearing in the cross-examination of prosecution witnesses taken by Advocate for accused

 In the High Court of Bombay

(Before S.B. Shukre, J.)

Urvashi Vs State of Maharashtra 

Criminal Writ Petition No. 166 of 2016

Decided on June 20, 2016

Citation: 2016 SCC OnLine Bom 5379 : (2016) 3 AIR Bom R (Cri) (NOC 47) 15 : (2016) 3 Bom CR (Cri) 422.

https://www.lawweb.in/2024/04/bombay-hc-court-should-not-put-to.html

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Supreme Court: The court must consider written statement filed by accused U/S 313 of CRPC in the light of prosecution evidence

 Once a written statement is filed by the Accused Under Sub-section (5) of Section 313, Code of Criminal Procedure and the court marks it as an exhibit, such statement must be treated as part of the Accused's statement Under Sub-section (1) read with Sub-section (4) thereof. In view of the latter Sub-section, the written statement has to be considered in the light of the evidence led by the prosecution to appreciate the truthfulness or otherwise of such case and the contents of such statement weighed with the probabilities of the case either in favour of the Accused or against him. {Para 17}

18. This is a case where it does not appear from the records that the written statement (Ext. 96) engaged the attention of both the trial court as well as the High Court. Applying the principles noted above and for the reasons discussed below, there can be no quarrel that non-consideration of Ext. 96, to a limited extent, in relation to recording of conviction and consequently imposition of sentence, has rendered it vulnerable to interference.

 IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA

Criminal Appeal No. 211 of 2023

Decided On: 03.03.2023

Premchand  Vs. The State of Maharashtra

Hon'ble Judges/Coram:

S. Ravindra Bhat and Dipankar Datta, JJ.

Author: Dipankar Datta, J.

Citation: MANU/SC/0209/2023,(2023) 5 SCC 522.

Read full Judgment here: Click here.

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Should the court provide copies of questions to be put to accused U/S 313 of CRPC to the public prosecutor and defence counsel and seek their assistance?

22. Before we part with this judgment, we must take a note of sub-section (5) added to Section 313 of CrPC w.e.f. 31st December 2009. Sub-section (5) reads thus:

“313. Power to examine the accused.-

(1) … … …

(2) … … … …

(3) … … … …

(4) … … … …

(5) The Court may take help of Prosecutor and Defence Counsel in preparing relevant questions which are to be put to the accused and the Court may permit filing of written statement by the accused as sufficient compliance of this section.”

23. In many criminal trials, a large number of witnesses are examined, and evidence is voluminous. It is true that the Judicial Officers have to understand the importance of Section 313. But now the Court is empowered to take the help of the prosecutor and the defence counsel in preparing relevant questions. Therefore, when the Trial Judge prepares questions to be put to the accused under Section 313, before putting the questions to the accused, the Judge can always provide copies of the said questions to the learned Public Prosecutor as well as the learned defence Counsel and seek their assistance for ensuring that every relevant material circumstance appearing against the accused is put to him. When the Judge seeks the assistance of the prosecutor and the defence lawyer, the lawyers must act as the officers of the Court and not as mouthpieces of their respective clients. While recording the statement under Section 313 of CrPC in cases involving a large number of prosecution witnesses, the Judicial Officers will be well advised to take benefit of subsection (5) of Section 313 of CrPC, which will ensure that the chances of committing errors and omissions are minimized.

 REPORTABLE

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA

CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION

CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 1471 of 2023

Raj Kumar @ Suman    Vs State (NCT of Delhi).

(Before Abhay S. Oka and Rajesh Bindal, JJ.)

Author: Abhay S. Oka, J.

Dated: May 11, 2023.

Citation: 2023 SCC OnLine SC 609.

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