BALWANT SINGH Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) PETITIONER -accused has assailed the judgment passed by Mr. J.S. Korey, Additional Sessions Judge, Ludhiana, allowing appeal No. 34 of 1993 but at the same time remanding the case to the Trial Court to record the statement of the accused-petitioner under Section 313 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (in short, the Code) afresh.

(2.) BRIEF facts of the case are that on October 11, 1984, accused was nabbed for keeping in his possession 2 Kgs and 250 gms of opium. Challan was filed on October 11, 1985. Trial Court delivered its judgment on September 11, 1993, holding him guilty under Section 9(1) of the Opium Act and sentenced him to undergo rigorous imprisonment for one year with a fine of Rs. 1,000/- in default to further undergo rigorous imprisonment for three months. The accused-petitioner filed the aforesaid appeal in the court of the Additional Sessions Judge, Ludhiana.

(3.) THE learned Additional Sessions Judge found that this link evidence, which was adduced in the form of affidavits, was not put to the accused when he was examined under section 313 of the Code. Relying on Sham Lal v. State of Haryana, 1993(2) CLR 242 the learned Additional Sessions Judge allowed the appeal, set aside the conviction and sentence recorded by the trial Magistrate and remanded the case to the Judicial Magistrate Ist Class, Ludhiana, for a fresh decision after properly examining the accused under section 313 of the Code and allowing him to adduce the evidence in defence.