VIJAY SHANKAR Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS judgment will dispose of Crl. Appeal No. 205-SB- 1995 and Crl. Appeal No. 206-SB-1995.

(2.) THE appeal arises out of the following facts :

(3.) MR . Baljit Puri, the learned counsel appearing in support of the appeals, has urged that the Full Bench of this court in State of Punjab v. Kulwant Singh, 1994(1) RCR 303 had observed that it was desirable that in actual practice the statement of the suspect as to whether an offer under Section 50 of the Act had been made or not and the reply given by the accused needed to be recorded and has further urged that this observation had been made while holding that the provisions of Section 50 of the Act were in fact not mandatory and their non-compliance did not vitiate the prosecution. He has further urged that in State of Punjab v. Balbir Singh, 1994(1) RCR 736, the Supreme Court has finally settled the issue and held that the provisions of Section 50 of the Act were mandatory and to that extent the judgment in Kulwant Singh's case (supra) stood nullified but this factor made it all the more necessary that the offer made and the reply given should be in writing as without it, it would be very difficult for both the parties, that is, the prosecution as also the accused to prove otherwise.