9911796707
TMI Blog1962 (9) TMI 84X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... d had stabbed the deceased Chand while he was running away. When, however, he was examined at the trial before the Court of Sessions three months later the appellant stated that while he was standing on the threshold of his house he saw Rafique Ahmed and his two associates coming from the direction of the Muhammaden burial ground. According to him one of them had a dagger while the others had only sticks with them. He, however, did not see anything more because, as his children were frightened, he closed the door and remained inside. He disclaimed knowledge of what happened subsequently and in cross-examination stated that it was not true that he actually saw Rafique Ahmed stabbing the deceased. In his charge to the jury the learned Additional Sessions judge who tried the case has brought out the fact that the appellant had made two widely divergent statements in regard to a certain part of the incident. The jury, after considering the entire evidence, returned a verdict of not guilty against Rafique Ahmed in respect of the offence under s. 302, I.P.C. but found him guilty under s. 304, first part. It also found the other two accused persons guilty under s. 304, first part, r ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... in case of certain offences affecting the administration of justice . Section 476 (1) provides that when any civil, revenue or criminal court is of opinion that it is expedient in the interests of justice that an enquiry should be made into any offence referred to in s. 195 (1), cl. (b) or (c) which appears to have been committed in or in relation to a proceeding in that Court, such Court may, after such preliminary inquiry, if any, if it thinks necessary, record a finding to that effect and make a complaint thereof in writing signed by the presiding Officer of the Court and forward it to a Magistrate of the first class having jurisdiction to deal with the case. The offences referred to in cls. (b) and (c) of sub-s. (1) of s. 195 are those under ss. 193, 194 to 196, 199, 200, 205 to 211, 228, 463/ 471, 475 or 476, 1. P. C. By s. 89 of Act 26 of 1955, s. 479-A was added in ch. XXXV of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The heading of that section is 'Procedure in certain cases of false evidence . This section provides that notwithstanding anything contained in ss. 476 to 479, inclusive, when any Civil Revenue or Criminal Court is of opinion that any per-son appearing before it as ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e of U. P.( A.I.R. (1959) All. 744). In that case it was held that s.479-A was enacted to give additional power to the Court authorising it to deal speedily with the more flagrant or serious cases of intentionally giving false evidence or intentionally fabricating evidence in judicial proceedings. It was also held there that the intention of Parliament in enacting s. 479-A was to deal with offences of' perjury of a more serious type and that less serious type of offences which cannot be brought under the new provision will, therefore, have to be dealt with under s. 476 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The Court, therefore, took the view that s. 479- A, Cr.P.C. has not impliedly repealed s. 476 of the Code in respect of all cases of witnesses giving or fabricating false evidence in judicial proceedings and so the provisions of s. 476 of the Code are still available for proceeding against witnesses whose cases cannot be brought under s. 479 A for one reason or another. He also referred to the decision in Lal Behari v. State(A.I.R. (1962) All. 251) where the same view was taken. The learned judges who decided the case dissented from the view taken in Jaibir Singh' v. Malkhan ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... more expeditiously and effectively and that the provisions were meant to be fair to both sides, that is, to bring a Criminal to book promptly and not to harass him after a long time. Reliance was also placed on the decision in Amolak v. State(A. I. R. (1961) Raj. 220) where more or less the same view was taken and it was further pointed out that where a case is of a class which falls squarely within the ambit of s. 479-A(1) of the Code, the provisions of s. 476 to s. 479 are inapplicable. We cannot, said Miss Kapila, ignore the opening words of s. 479-A or the provisions of sub-s. (6) of, s. 479-A. The inevitable effect of these provisions is to exclude the provisions of ss. 476 to 479 in respect of offences which are dealt with specifically in sub-s.(1). Restricting ourselves to a case where the offence consists of intentionally giving false evidence in any stage of judicial proceeding it is no doubt true that as under s. 476 it is the Court which disposes of such judicial proceeding which primarily has to act under s. 479-A. There does not appear to be any real distinction between s. 476 and s. 479-A as to the Court which can take action. Under s. 476 the action may proceed ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... and that if it does not take action under s. 479-A it can do so under s. 476. The jurisdictions of the Court to make a complaint against a person arises only from the fact that that person has given false evidence or fabricated false evidence at any stage of the proceeding disposed of by it. The conditions required to be fulfilled by the Court and the procedure to be followed by it for the purpose of exercising its jurisdiction and making a complaint are not to be equated with the conditions which give the court jurisdiction to make a complaint. From this it would follow that whereas s. 476 is a general provision dealing with the procedure to be followed in respect of a variety of offences affecting the administration of justice in so far as certain offences falling under ss. 193 to 195 and s. 471, 1. P. C. are concerned the Court before which that person has appeared as a witness and which disposed of the case can alone make a complaint. In our opinion, therefore, the view taken in the decisions relied upon by Mr. Prem is not correct and that the view taken in Parshotam Lal's case(A. I. R. (1959) Punjab 145) and Amolak's case(A. I. R. (1961) Punj.229) to the effect tha ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ommitting Magistrate and asked them to decide whether to accept one or the other of the testimonies given by the appellant or whether to reject both. He also asked them to consider whether the reference made by the appellant to Chand, before the Committing Magistrate, was really to the deceased Abu Kana. The jury, as already stated, returned the verdict of guilty under s. 304, Part 1. of course, it cannot be said that the jury in arriving at the verdict placed reliance upon the evidence of the appellant tendered before the Court or rejected it. But it was open to the learned Additional Sessions judge, after having accepted the verdict to say whether the evidence tendered at the trial was true or false. He has not chosen to do so. But, for considering the applicability of s. 479-A(1) what has to be borne in mind is that in a jury trial it is possible for the judge to come to a conclusion that the statement made at the trial is false. If he comes to that conclusion then, as rightly observed in Badullah's case, (1), he has no option but to proceed under s. 479-A(1), Cr. P. C. The question then is whether he could act, under this provision if he is unable to form an opinion one way ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
|
