BAHAL SINGH Vs. THE STATE AND ANR.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS order will dispose of Criminal Revision No. 958 of 1963 by Bajial Singh, and the application for cancellation of his bail (Criminal Miscellaneous No. 1187 of 1963), preferred by Sarwan Singh.

(2.) DAHAL Singh Petitioner in Criminal Revision No. 958 of 1963 was prosecuted under Section 302, Indian Penal Code, for committing the murders of Prem Singh and Ujagar Singh on the 23rd August, 1962, in Chandigarh by deliberately crushing under his truck the two deceased who were riding on a bicycle. Shri Prabh Dayal, Magistrate First Class, Chandigarh, conducted the enquiry proceedings under Chapter XVIII of the Criminal Procedure Code in accordance with the procedure laid down in Section 207 -A of the Code. After examining Tara Singh and Jit Ram, alias Jit Singh, who were alleged to have witnessed the occurrence,' he recorded the statement of Constable Radha Kishan as a Court -witness and thereafter without taking the statement of the accused discharged him by his order dated the 25th of February 1963 Taking note of the fact that Tara Singh and lit Singh had turned hostile and did not support the prosecution story, the learned Magistrate held that there was no evidence on the record to cornice the accused with the murders.

(3.) AS has been observed earlier, the enquiry proceeding's before the learned Magistrate against Bahal Singh started on a police report and they had to be conducted In accordance with the provisions of Section 207 -A of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The powers of a Magistrate dealing with such an enquiry were recently considered by their Lordships of the Supreme Court in Bipat Gopu v. State of Bihar : AIR 1962 SC 1195, and It was laid down that If a prima facie case triable by the Court of Sessions Is made out the Magistrate must commit the accused to that Court to stand his trial and it is not for the Magistrate to deal with the evidence placed before him as If he were entrusted with the trial of the accused.