K R BHAT Vs. EMPEROR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These are four applications for quashing the order of commitment of the several accused under different sections of the Indian Penal Code passed on 14th May 1931, by the Special Magistrate appointed to try the case. It is not necessary to mention all the facts leading to the prosecution of the accused in this case. The commitment can be quashed Under Section 215 by this Court only on a point of law.

(2.) The first point taken on behalf of the accused is that the case was started as a warrant case and the learned Magistrate led the accused to believe that he was trying the case under Ch. 21, Criminal P.C., and not inquiring under Ch. 18 of the Code, and therefore the accused had no opportunity of cross examining the prosecution witnesses and leading evidence on their behalf before the Magistrate. It is further urged that though the Magistrate had power to commit the accused Under Section 347, Criminal P.C., the Magistrate was bound to proceed according to the procedure laid down by Ch. 18 of the Code.

(3.) With regard to the point as to whether the learned Magistrate led the accused to believe that he was trying the case as a warrant case, it is sufficient to refer to the application of the accused on 9 March 1931. In para. 4 the accused stated that the Magistrate would be acting illegally in trying charges which were exclusively triable by the Court of Session. It would therefore follow that the possibility of the accused being committed to the Court of Session was not altogether absent from the minds of the accused and their legal advisers as alleged, and the learned Magistrate in his order of the same day stated: I have certainly got the powers to try the accused for an offence of criminal conspiracy to commit cheating, breach of trust, and falsification of accounts Under Section 120-B read with Secs.420, 405, 477-A and 193.