MANJOORKHAN Vs. STATE OF MYSORE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner who is ht third accused in Criminal Case No. 539 of 1961 on the file of the Court of the Special First Class Magistrate, Davangere, prays that the charge of the abutment framed against him by the Magistrate be quashed on the ground that the framing of the charge is opposed to the provisions of S. 251-A of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

(2.) In Cr. R. No. 113 of 1961 decided on the 9th August 1961, this Court has held that the only materials on which the Magistrate may depend either for the purpose of discharging the accused or for framing a charge him are the documents referred to in S. 173 of the Code and what might emerge from the examination of the accused if he is examined, and that these Magistrate should take into consideration the arguments that may be presented by the accused and the prosecution when the affords them an opportunity of being heard.

(3.) In this case, there is no complaint that there has been any contravention of the principle laid down in the said decision of this Court by the Magistrate taking into account any material beyond the scope of sub-sections 2 and 3 of section 251-A as explained in that decision, nor is it contended by the learned counsel on behalf of the petitioner that the Magistrate is wrong in stating the principle that certainty of conviction is not the basis for framing a charge. The only contention on behalf of the petitioner is that on the material placed before the Magistrate by the prosecution there is no ground for presuming that the accused has committed an offence and that what emerges on the examination of ht excused actually makes the charge groundless, and that therefore the situation is one to which the provisions of sub-section (2) of S. 251-A and not those of sub-section (3) apply.