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TMI Blog2021 (4) TMI 1270X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... r, AOR, Mr. Abhimanyu Tewari, AOR, Ms. Eliza Bar, Adv., Mr. Subodh S. Patil, Adv., Ms. Supriya Patil, Adv., Mr. Shekhar Raj Sharma, Adv., Mr. Sanjay Kumar Visen, AOR, Mr. V. Balachandran, Adv., Mr. Siddharth Naidu, Adv., Ms. Abha R. Sharma, AOR, Mr. Keshav Mohan, Adv., Mr. R.K. Awasthi, Adv., Mr. Prashant Kumar, Adv., Mr. Piyush Vatsa, Adv., Ms. Ritu Arora, Adv., Mr. Santosh Kumar - I, AOR, Mr. P. S. Sudheer, AOR, Ms. Hemantika Wahi, AOR, Mr. M. Shoeb Alam, AOR, Mr. D.S. Parmar, AAG, Mr. Sunny Choudhary, AOR, Mr. Rovins F. Verma, Adv, Mr. Nishant Ramakantrao Katneshwarkar, AOR, Mr. Pukhrambam Ramesh Kumar, AOR, Ms. Anupama Ngangom, Adv., Mr. Karun Sharma, Adv., Mr. Avijit Mani Tripathi, AOR, Mr. Shaurya Sahay, Adv., Mr. P.S. Negi, Adv., Ms. Aruna Mathur, AOR, Mr. Avneesh Arputham, Adv., M/S. Arputham Aruna And Co, AOR, Mr. Saurabh Mishra, AAG, Mr. Gopal Jha, AOR, Mr. Shreyash Bhardwaj, Adv., Ms. Shashi Juneja, Adv., Mr. Satish Pandey, Adv., Mr. Jatinder Kumar Bhatia, AOR, Mr. Ashutosh Kumar Sharma, Adv., Ms. Garima Prashad, AOR, Mr. Chanchal Kumar Ganguli, AOR, Mr. Yajur Bhalla, Adv., Mr. Deepak Samota, Adv., Mr. Siddharth Srivastava, Adv., Mr. Shubham Bhalla, AOR, Mrs. Anil Katiya ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... , Mr. V.N. Raghupathy, AOR, Mr. P.H. Parekh, Sr. Adv., Mr. Sameer Parekh, Adv., Mr. Kshatrashal Raj, Adv., Ms. Tanya Chaudhry, Adv., Ms. Pratyusha Priyadarshini, Adv., Ms. Nitika Pandey, Adv., M/S. Parekh & Co., AOR, Ms. Preetika Dwivedi, AOR, Mr. Jishnu M.L., Adv., Ms. Priyanka Prakash, Adv., Ms. Beena Prakash, Adv., Mr. G. Prakash, AOR, Mr. Suhaan Mukerji, Adv, Mr. Vishal Prasad, Adv., Mr. Nikhil Parikshith, Adv., Mr. Abhishek Manchanda, Adv., Mr. Sayandeep Pahari, Adv, For PLR Chambers &Co. and Mr. Tapesh Kumar Singh, AOR ORDER 1. This suo motu proceeding under Article 32 was initiated during the course of hearing of a criminal appeal [Crl.A.400/2006 & connected matters]. The Court noticed common deficiencies which occur in the course of criminal trials and certain practices adopted by trial courts in criminal proceedings as well as in the disposal of criminal cases and causes. These related, amongst others, to the manner in which documents (i.e. list of witnesses, list of exhibits, list of material objects) referred to are presented and exhibited in the judgment, and the lack of uniform practices in regard to preparation of injury reports, deposition of witnesses, tran ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 019. The colloquium was attended by representatives of different States/Union Territories and their respective High Courts. 5. After considering the suggestions made during the colloquium, the amici curiae submitted the "Draft Rules of Criminal Practice, 2020" for the consideration of this court. While framing Draft Rules, due care was taken to ensure uniformity and at the same time to recognize the diverse practices among the various state authorities and High Courts in the country. The draft rules are compliant and not in any way repugnant to the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. Many suggestions made as practice directions reflect the mandatory provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. 6. By later orders dated 27.10.2020 and 19.01.2021, the High Courts were once again directed to file their responses to the Draft Rules of Criminal Practice, 2020. Pursuant to that order, all High Courts filed their responses and the summaries of the responses. 7. During the hearing, this court noticed that most of the suggestions had been agreed except in regard to a few aspects. Some High Courts, while accepting the Draft Rules also sought to elaborate and supplement them, which ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... document or other thing. (1) Whenever any Court or any officer in charge of a police station considers that the production of any document or other thing is necessary or desirable for the purposes of any investigation, inquiry, trial or other proceeding under this Code by or before such Court or officer, such Court may issue a summons, or such officer a written order, to the person in whose possession or power such document or thing is believed to be, requiring him to attend and produce it, or to produce it, at the time and place stated in the summons or order. (2) Any person required under this section merely to produce a document or other thing shall be deemed to have complied with the requisition if he causes such document or thing to be produced instead of attending personally to produce the same. (3) Nothing in this section shall be deemed- (a) to affect sections 123 and 124 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 (1 of 1872 ), or the Bankers' Books Evidence Act, 1891 (13 of 1891) or (c)to apply to a letter, postcard, telegram or other document or any parcel or thing in the custody of the postal or telegraph authority.] for their production during th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ed from consideration. In our view there is no illegality in adopting such a course. (However, we make it clear that if the objection relates to deficiency of stamp duty of a document the court has to decide the objection before proceeding further. For all other objections the procedure suggested above can be followed.) The above procedure, if followed, will have two advantages. First is that the time in the trial court, during evidence taking stage, would not be wasted on account of raising such objections and the court can continue to examine the witnesses. The witnesses need not wait for long hours, if not days. Second is that the superior court, when the same objection is re-canvassed and reconsidered in appeal or revision against the final judgment of the trial court, can determine the correctness of the view taken by the trial court regarding that objection, without bothering to remit the case to the trial court again for fresh disposal. We may also point out that this measure would not cause any prejudice to the parties to the litigation and would not add to their misery or expenses." 13. It was argued by amici that the procedure, whereby the courts record answers to all q ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... importance of the imputation made against the witness's character and the importance of his evidence; (4) the Court may, if it sees fit, draw, from the witness's refusal to answer, the inference that the answer if given would be unfavourable" 15. Apart from Section 148, there are other provisions of the Evidence Act (Sections 149-154) which define the ground rules for cross examination. During questioning, no doubt, the counsel for the party seeking cross examination has considerable leeway; cross examination is not confined to matters in issue, but extends to all relevant facts. However, if the court is not empowered to rule, during the proceeding, whether a line of questioning is relevant, the danger lies in irrelevant, vague and speculative answers entering the record. Further, based on the answers to what (subsequently turn out to be irrelevant, vague or otherwise impermissible questions) more questions might be asked and answered. If this process were to be repeated in case of most witnesses, the record would be cluttered with a jumble of irrelevant details, which at best can be distracting, and at worst, prejudicial to the accused. Therefore, this court is of opinion tha ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... exercise of admission/denial may be carried out under Section 294, Cr. PC, for which a specific date may be fixed. The schedule of recording of witnesses should then be fixed, by giving consecutive dates. Each date so fixed, should be scheduled for a specific number of witnesses. However, the concerned witnesses may be bound down to appear for 2-3 consecutive dates, in case their depositions are not concluded. Also, in case any witness does not appear, or cannot be examined, the court shall indicate a fixed date for such purpose. The recording of deposition of witnesses shall then be taken up, after the scheduling exercise is complete. This court has appropriately carried out necessary amendments to the Draft Rules. 18. It was submitted by the amici that as regards the subject matter relating to the first three Draft Rules, the state and police authorities have to carry out necessary and consequential amendments to the police manuals, and other related instructions, to be followed by each state. Counsel appearing for states and union territories have assured that suitable steps to incorporate the Draft Rules - relating to (1) Body sketch to accompany medico-legal certificate, pos ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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