SIDHAN Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This Criminal Revision Petition was filed by the 10 accused against their conviction and sentence in S. C. Nos. 47 and 71 of 1979 on the file of the Additional Assistant Sessions Judge, Trichur, which was confirmed by the Sessions Judge, Trichur, in Crl. A. No. 22 of 1980.

(2.) Both the cases arise out of the same incident. All the ten revision petitioners were the accused in both the cases. One is a police charge and the other a private complaint. The private complaint resulted in Sessions Case No. 47 of 1979 by committal. Sessions Case No. 71 of 1979 arose out of the police charge. The private complaint was for offences punishable under Ss. 143, 148, 149, 324, 326, 341 and 307 of the Indian Penal Code. The police charge was also for identical offences with the only exception that the offence under S. 307, I.P.C. was not included therein.

(3.) Since the private complaint included an offence under S. 307, I.P.C. which is exclusively triable by the Sessions Court, it was committed to the Sessions Court by the Magistrate. In the police charge there was no offence under any section which was exclusively triable by the Sessions Court. Therefore after taking cognizance, that case was pending before the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Trichur as C.C. No. 182 of 1979. One of the accused filed Cri. M. P. No. 2 of 1979 to stay the trial of Sessions Case No. 47 of 1979 till the disposal of C. C. No. 182 of 1979. That was dismissed. Thereafter, the same accused filed Crl. M. P. 554 of 1979. The prayer was to get C. C. No. 182 of 1979 transferred to the file of the Addl. Asst. Sessions Judge, before whom Sessions Case No. 47 of 1979 was pending. Instead of ordering transfer of the case as prayed for, the learned Sessions Judge ordered the Magistrate to commit C. C. No. 182 of 1979 also to the Sessions Court. That is how the police charge happened to be committed and tried as Sessions Case No. 71 of 1979 before the same Court. The two cases were not clubbed together, but kept separate and jointly tried.