MACHERLA HANUMANTHA RAO Vs. SYAYE OF ANDHRA PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The only question that arises for determination in this appeal on a certificate granted by the High Court of Andhra Pradesh at Hyderabad, under Art. 134 (1) (c) of the Constitution, is the constitutionality of the provisions of Ss. 207 and 207A, Code of Criminal Procedure (hereinafter referred to as the Code), which, read together, were introduced into the Code by Act XXVI of 1955. The 26 appellants have been committed to the Court of Session, Guntur Division, to take their trial for offences punishable under Ss. 147, 148, 323, 324 and 302, read with Ss. 34 and 149, Indian Penal Code.

(2.) For the purposes of this appeal, it is only necessary to state the following relevant facts. The local police took cognizance of a serious occurrence of rioting with murder on 22-12-1955. The local police investigated the case, and after recording such evidence as it could collect in respect of the occurrence, submitted a charge-sheet under the aforesaid sections of the Indian Penal Code, to the Magistrate having jurisdiction to entertain the case.

(3.) The arguments addressed to the High Court have been repeated in this Court and are to the effect that Ss. 207 and 207A, as they now stand, provide for two separate procedures in the committing court, namely, (1) in respect of a case instituted on a police report for which the procedure specified in S. 207A is prescribed, and (2) in respect of any other proceeding, the procedure laid down in other provisions of Chapter XVIII is prescribed.