PALAGANI VEERARAGHAVULU Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In all these petitions, a common question as to the constitutional validity of section 25I-A of the Criminal Procedure Code has been raised. In, Crl. M.P. Nos. 898 and 900 of 1956, the petitioners seek the quashing of the charges framed by the Magistrate for offences under section 409, Indian Penal Code. In Crl. M.P. No. 891 of 1956, the petitioners pray that the charges framed against them under section 4(1) (b) of the Madras Prohibition Act, be quashed. In Crl. M. P. No. 911 of 1956 in which a police charge-sheet has been filed for an offence, under section 324, Indian Penal Code,the petitioner asks for a direction to the lower Court not to follow the procedure under section 251-A but to follow the procedure prescribed by sections 252 to 258, Criminal Procedure Code. Suffice it to say for purposes of determining the question raised in these petitions, that all these are warrant-cases instituted on police reports, and section 251 enacts that:- "In the trial of warrant-cases by Magistrates, the Magistrate shall- (a) in any case instituted on a police report, follow the procedure specified in section 251-A; and (b) in any other case, follow the procedure specified in the other provisions of this chapter".

(2.) It is contended on behalf of the petitioners that the provisions of section 251-A are violative of the fundamental right enshrined in Article 14 of the Constitution of India in that they discriminate between accused persons proceeded against on police reports and those proceeded against on complaints ; and it is said that the new procedure as compared with the old, is disadvantageous and prejudicial to the accused and therefore, discriminatory.

(3.) Sections 251 and 25I-A were inserted in the Code of Criminal Procedure by the Amendment Act XXVI of 1955. Prior to that, there was a uniform procedure in respect of the trial of all warrant-cases by Magistrates, whether such cases were instituted on police reports or on complaints. Section 251-A, however, introduced a change up to the point of the framing of the charge with regard to the trial of warrant-cases instituted on police reports. It will be convenient to notice the points of difference between the two kinds of procedure: Under section 251-A(1) :-