LAKHI SAHU (KANU) Vs. EMPEROR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is a reference under Section 432, Criminal P.C. It has been made by Mr. B. K. Mukherji, who was appointed a Presidency Magistrate to preside over the Central Children Court Calcutta, established under Notification No. 9524-J, dated 18 November 1929, for the town of Calcutta, the suburbs of Calcutta and some other areas near about Calcutta including the Municipality of Howrah.

(2.) One Lakhi Sahu alias Kahu, a boy of 13 or 14, was produced before Mr. Mukherji on a charge of culpable homicide under Section 304, I.P.C., (an offence which is exclusively triable by a Court of Session) alleged to have been committed in Howrah.

(3.) The two points which have been referred to us for opinion are: (1) Is the Court over which Mr. Mukherji was appointed to preside competent to try cases exclusively triable by the Court of Session; and (ii) If that Court is not competent to try the charge then to which Court of Sessions should it commit the case, i.e., whether to the Court of Session at Howrah or the High Court Sessions.