M C TIWARI Vs. STATE OF M P

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By this petition under Section 482 of the Cr.P.C., petitioner has challenged order of the trial court dated 05.03.2021 whereby the petitioner's application under Section 311 of the Cr.P.C. for recall of the witnesses PW/7 to PW/10 has been rejected.

(2.) The brief facts are that the petitioner is facing prosecution for offence punishable under Section 7, 13(1)(d) read with Section 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act and the trial is pending before the Special Judge (Prevention of Corruption Act) Panna. The incident had taken place in the year 2007 and after investigation challan was filed sometime in the year 2008-09. The statement of witnesses PW/7 and PW/10 were recorded in the year 2012. Thereafter, the petitioner had absconded and had again resurfaced on 19.02.2021 and then he had filed an application under Section 311 of the Cr.P.C. which has been rejected by the trial court.

(3.) Learned counsel appearing for the petitioner submits that the counsel who was appearing for the petitioner was not well and had subsequently died and that the petitioner could not engage another Advocate and no effective cross-examination of the witnesses could be done. He further submits that so far as the absence of the petitioner is concerned, the trial court while granting bail has duly considered the circumstances and the same also furnishes a ground for allowing the application for recall of the witnesses. In support of his submission, he has placed reliance upon the judgment of the Supreme Court in the matter of Manju Devi vs. State of Rajasthan and another, 2019 6 SCC 203, Mannan Shaikh and others vs. State of West Bengal and another, 2014 13 SCC 59, V.N. Patil Vs. K. Niranjan Kumar and Others,2021 SCCOnLineSC 172 and has submitted that for fair trial opportunity to cross-examine the witnesses should be granted.