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TMI Blog1996 (2) TMI 552X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ses. But Presiding Officer being otherwise engaged, no witness was examined. This process continued and on a number of occasions- no witness could be examined even though the complainant was present with witnesses. The reason for such adjournments were mostly either due to the Presiding Officer being engaged otherwise or the Presiding Officer having been transferred. The first witness was examined on 12-11-91 and evidence concluded on 4-3-92. The petitioner filed a petition under Section 245(3) Cr.P.C. on 4-3-92 and the Ld. Magistrate after hearing the party disallowed the prayer contained in the petition on 25-6-92 and also charge was framed against the accused. It has been contended that the Ld. Magistrate ought to have discharged the acc ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... by the Magistrate to continue the proceeding after the aforesaid period without being satisfied by the prosecution within the stipulated period that upon the evidence already produced and for special reasons there is ground for presuming that it shall not be in the interest of justice to discharge the accused, in breach of the provisions of Section 245(3) Cr. P.C, would clearly be without jurisdiction. The attention of the Ld. Judge was drawn by the O.P. No. 1 to a Single Bench decision of this Court in Santosh Dey v. Smt. Archana Guha reported in 1992 (I) CHN 366, where Shri Gitesh Ranjan Bhattacharjee, J, took the view that there was no doubt that if also the prosecution evidences are not produced within four years from the date of appea ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... produce all his witnesses in course of the aforesaid period. And as such the prayer contained in the petition under Section 245(3) Cr. P.C. ought not to have been dismissed by the Ld. Advocate has relied on cases reported in 1994 (2) CHN 85 and also 1993 (1) CLN 92. On the other hand the Ld. Advocate appearing for the State has relied on the cases reported in 1994 Calcutta Cri.L.R.97 and also 1994 Calcutta Criminal Law Reporter (SC) 87 (Sic) 7. In order to appreciate the scope of Section 245(3) Cr.P.C. it is necessary to quote the relevant Subsection which is as follows:- (3) If all the evidence referred to in Section 244 are not produced in support of the prosecution within four years from the date of appearance of the accused, the M ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ses, accused was also present but P.O. was otherwise engaged and the case was again adjourned to 27-11-89 on the said day at the prayer of the complainant the case was adjourned to 9-5-90. The record was not placed on 9-5-90 as it was a holiday and the record was placed on the next day i.e. 10-5-90 when it was adjourned to 17-9-90, presumably because neither side was present for the obvious reason that the case was not fixed earlier on that day. On 17-9-90 complainant was present with one witness, the accused was also present but filed a petition for adjournment which was allowed and the case was adjourned to 7-1-91 but on 7-1-91 complainant was present with two witnesses, accused was also present but as the Presiding Officer was already tr ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... that the said Sub-section gives a valuable right to the accused in the shape of an order of discharge but at the same time the Sub-section deals with the necessity of production .of witnesses by the complainant and not their examination. We have shown from the narration of the dates when the case was fixed for evidence that the complainant was very much vigilent in the matter of production of witnesses on the dates fixed for evidence right from the very first day but due to the circumstances stated earlier the P.O. of the Court concerned could not take up the case. Obviously, the benefit cannot be harvested by the accused. It is true, that the accused had also no fault on a number of occasion when the case had to be adjourned on the ground ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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