Having regard to the number of persons allegedly involved in the offences, as disclosed by the prosecution, the crimes committed are of murder in the course of robbery together with lurking house trespass and house breaking by night in order to commit offence punishable with imprisonment with common intention. Though Section 397 IPC deals with robbery or dacoity with attempt to cause death or grievous hurt and prescribes punishment by way of imprisonment of not less than seven years, in our view, the High Court ought to have decided the appeals on merit without remanding the case to the trial court for fresh adjudication after framing charge under Section 397 IPC and recording additional evidence, if deemed necessary.
13. The purpose of framing a charge against an accused person is to acquaint him with the incriminating facts and circumstances proposed to be proved against him in the trial to follow. The principal objective is to afford him an opportunity of preparing his defence against the charge. The possibility of prejudice to the accused arises, if he is not made conversant with the entire gamut of facts constituting the accusations leveled against him, as has been consistently propounded by this Court, amongst others, in V.C. Shukla vs. State through CBI (1980) Supp. SCC 92. Though Section 397 IPC, having regard to the case of the prosecution, may not be wholly irrelevant, the charges framed against the respondents-accused by the trial court, do adequately encompass all essential facts building up the offences imputed against them.
14. In view of the inclusion of Section 34 IPC in the array of offences, for which the respondents-accused had been charged by the trial court, as well as the facts and the evidence sought to be relied upon by the prosecution, in our estimate, the order of remand was not called for and the appeals should have been decided on merits, on the basis of the charges already framed and the materials on record. The deduction of the High Court that the omission to frame charge under Section 397 IPC has resulted in miscarriage of justice is unconvincing in the facts of this case. That meanwhile more than a decade has passed since the date of the incident, cannot also be readily over- looked.
SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
Bharamappa Gogi Vs. Praveen Murthy & Ors. etc.
[Criminal Appeal Nos. 2216-2217 of 2010]
AMITAVA ROY, J.
Dated:9 Feb 2016
Citation:(2016)6 SCC268
