TRIAL PROCEDURE UNDER CRPC

[Ss. 225-265]
 TRIAL BEFORE COS [225-237]
• Session Trial (Trial before Court of Session) -
• There are four stages when trial will end.
• These circumstances have been mentioned under
• Section 227(Discharge),
• Section 229 (Conviction on plea of guilty)
• Section 232 (Acquittal) and
• Section 235 (Judgment of acquittal or conviction).
• Section 225. Trial to be conducted by Public Prosecutor
• Section 226. Opening case for prosecution.
• Section 227. Discharge.
• Section 228. Framing of charge
• Section 229. Conviction on plea of guilty
• Section 230. Date for prosecution evidence.
• Section 231. Evidence for prosecution.
• Section 232. Acquittal
• Section 233. Entering upon defence.
• Section 234. Arguments.
• Section 235. Judgment of acquittal or conviction.
• Section 236. Previous conviction.
• Section 237. Procedure in cases instituted under section 199(2).
 Section 225. Trial to be conducted by Public Prosecutor

• Section 225 specifically provides that “in every trial before a

court of session the prosecution shall be conducted by a Public
Prosecutor”, no such specific provision has been made by the
Code in respect of the trials in the courts of the Magistrates.
• According to the existing practice, however, the State arranges
for the conduct of the prosecution in all cases initiated on a
police report; and usually it is for the Assistant Public
Prosecutors to conduct such prosecutions on behalf of the
State.
 Section 226. Opening case for prosecution
• The Public Prosecutor opens his case before the Sessions Court by
describing what charge is brought against the accused and stating by
what evidence he will prove the guilt of the accused.
 Section 227. Discharge.—

• If the Judge after going through the record and documents submitted,
and after hearing the prosecution and the accused comes to the
conclusion that no sufficient ground exists to proceed against the
accused, he shall discharge him. The reasons, however, should be
recorded in writing.
 Sajjan Kumar v CBI, (2010) 9 SCC 368; State v A Arun Kumar, (2015) 2 SCC 417

• the following four principles are applicable in regard to the exercise of the power of discharging the
accused under Section 227:
• (i) The Judge while considering the question of framing the charges under Section 227 of the Cr.P.C.
has the undoubted power to sift and weigh the evidence for the limited purpose of finding out whether
or not a prima facie case against the accused has been made out. The test to determine prima facie
case would depend upon the facts of each case.
• (ii) Where the materials placed before the Court disclose grave suspicion against the accused which
has not been properly explained, the Court will be fully justified in framing a charge and proceeding
with the trial.
• (iii) The Court cannot act merely as a Post Office or a mouthpiece of the prosecution but has to
consider the broad probabilities of the case, the total effect of the evidence and the documents
produced before the Court, any basic infirmities etc. However, at this stage, there cannot be a roving
enquiry into the pros and cons of the matter and weigh the evidence as if he was conducting a trial.
• (iv) If on the basis of the material on record, the Court could form an opinion that the accused might
have committed offence, it can frame the charge, though for conviction the conclusion is required to be
proved beyond reasonable doubt that the accused has committed the offence.
• (v) At the time of framing of the charges, the probative value of the material on
record cannot be gone into but before framing a charge the Court must apply its
judicial mind on the material placed on record and must be satisfied that the
commission of offence by the accused was possible.
• (vi) At the stage of Sections 227 and 228, the Court is required to evaluate the
material and documents on record with a view to find out if the facts emerging
therefrom taken at their face value discloses the existence of all the ingredients
constituting the alleged offence. For this limited purpose, sift the evidence as it
cannot be expected even at that initial stage to accept all that the prosecution states
as gospel truth even if it is opposed to common sense or the broad probabilities of
the case.
• (vii) If two views are possible and one of them gives rise to suspicion only, as
distinguished from grave suspicion, the trial Judge will be empowered to discharge
the accused and at this stage, he is not to see whether the trial will end in conviction
or acquittal.
• In the case of Union of India v. Prafulla Kumar Samal & Anr.142
(November 6, 1978)
• Supreme Court observed, “The words ‘not sufficient ground for
proceeding against the accused’ clearly show that the Judge is not a
mere post office to frame the charge at the behest of the prosecution,
but has to exercise his judicial mind to the facts of the case in order to
determine whether a case for trial has been made out by the
prosecution.”
 Section 228. Framing of charge.-
• Before framing a charge, the Court should properly evaluate the material and
documents placed before it and apply its mind to find out whether any fact in the FIR
or statements of witnesses disclosed the ingredients of the alleged offence.
• A prima facie case should be made out. There must be grounds for forming the
opinion that the accused had committed the crime.
• Under section 228, a Session Judge can transfer a case only to the Chief Judicial
Magistrate. The amendment seeks to give discretion to the Sessions Judge to
transfer a case either to the Chief Judicial Magistrate or to any other Judicial
Magistrate of the First Class and to fix a date for the appearance of the accused
before the Chief Judicial Magistrate or the Judicial Magistrate, as the case may be,
so that a lot of time, which is wasted in summoning the accused by the Magistrate,
may be saved.
• The purpose of Sections 227 and 228(1) of the Code is to ensure that
the court should be satisfied that the accusation made against the
accused person is not frivolous and thar there is some material for
proceeding against him.
• The stage prior to the framing of a charge is not expected to be a dress
rehearsal of a trial, or in other words, the details of all materials which
the prosecution will produce or rely on during the stage of the trial are
not expected to be produced or referred to before the judge at the time
of the opening of prosecution.
• Nor is it obligatory on the part of the court to give reasons for its
framing charges.
 Section 229. Conviction on plea of guilty
• The plea of guilty only amounts to an admission that the accused
committed the acts alleged against him. It is not an admission of guilt
under any particular section of the criminal statute.
• If the accused pleads guilty,
•  the Judge shall record the plea and
•  may, in his discretion, convict him thereon.
• Comment – If the accused is convicted on the basis of his plea of guilty,
his right of appeal is substantially curtailed by section 375.
• The accused can plead guilty under this section, or he can claim to be
tried under section 230, or he can refuse to plead. The plea of "not
guilty" is not recognised by the Code and it amounts to a claim to be
tried.
 Section 230. Date for prosecution evidence.
• If the accused refuses to plead or does not plead, or claims to
be tried or is not convicted under Section 229, the judge shall
fix a date for the examination of witnesses, and may, on the
application of the prosecution, issue any process for
compelling the attendance of any witness or the production of
any document or other thing.
 Section 231. Evidence for prosecution

• (1) On the date so fixed, the Judge shall proceed to take all such evidence146 as
may be produced in support of the prosecution.
• (2) The Judge may, in his discretion, permit the cross-examination147 of any witness
to be deferred until any other witness or witnesses have been examined or recall any
witness for further cross- examination.
• The prosecution should lay before the Court all material evidence available to it for
unfolding its case, but it will be unsound to lay down a general rule that every witness
must be examined even though his evidence may not be very material or even if it is
known that he has been won over or terrorised.
• Prosecution is not bound to produce all the witnesses. Only the material witnesses
considered necessary for unfolding the prosecution story need be produced.
• Section 231 r.w. Section 313, 314.
 s 232] Acquittal
• Section 232 empowers the court to acquit the accused if there is no evidence that
the accused committed the offence. This the court can do before calling upon the
accused to enter upon his defence and to adduce evidence in support thereof.
• With a view to help the court in taking the decision in this matter, Section 232 gives
an opportunity to both the prosecution and the defence to address the court on the
point. The comments of the parties would naturally relate to the evidence adduced
by the prosecution and the personal examination of the accused.
• a Court has no power to drop the proceedings after framing a charge and it has
either to acquit or convict an accused.
• The object of Section 232 is to expedite the conclusion of the sessions trial and, at
the same time, to avoid unnecessary harassment to the accused by calling upon him
to adduce evidence or to avoid the waste of public time when there is no evidence at
all
 Section 233. Entering upon defence
• If the accused is not acquitted under the previous section, then the Judge calls
upon him to enter on his defence. This is not a mere formality but is an essential
part of criminal trial. An omission on the part of the Judge to do so occasions failure
of justice and is not curable under section 464.
• The provision in sub-section (1) is mandatory.
• Section 233 r.w. Section 315.
• The accused may apply for issue of process to compel attendance of witnesses or
production of documents or things and the Judge, unless he considers the
application to be vexatious or made for the purpose of delay or defeating the ends
of justice, shall issue such process.
 Section 234. Arguments.—

• Section 234 directs that after the evidence for the defence is concluded
it is for the prosecution to sum up the case, and then the defence is
entitled to reply.
• The word "reply" means "reply generally on the whole case". But where
a point of law, not of fact, is raised by the accused or his pleader, the
Judge may permit the prosecution to make its submissions with regard
to such point of law.
• The apparent inconsistency between Section 314 and Section 234 may
not, however, create much difficulty in actual practice. Section 314 is a
general sec_x0002_tion, while Section 234 is a special one regarding
arguments. Therefore, Section 234 would get precedence over Section
314.
 Section 235. Judgment of acquittal or conviction.—
• Even if the accused is convicted, save in cases of admonition or release on
probation of good conduct, the accused can make his submission on point of
sentence, e.g., he is the only bread-earner in his family, etc.
• This provision is according to the new trend in penology and envisages that after a
Court holds a person guilty, it must consider the question of sentencing in the light
of various factors such as the prior criminal record of the offender, his age,
employment, educational background, home life, sobriety and social adjustment,
emotional and mental condition, and the prospects of his returning to normal path of
conformity with the law.
• It was therefore considered that the accused as well as the prosecution should be
given an opportunity to put forward their viewpoints on the question of the sentence.
• This sub-section requires the Court to give a hearing to the accused on the question
of the sentence. It is mandatory
 Section 236. Previous conviction
• This section lays down a special form of procedure as to the issue of
liability to enhanced punishment in consequence of previous conviction.
The section is applicable to trials before the Court of Session only; in
case of trials before a Magistrate, section 248(3) applies.
• Section 75 of the IPC provides for enhanced sentences in case of
certain offences of which an accused person is previously convicted.
(Prelims).
 Section 237. Procedure in cases instituted under
section 199(2).
• The cognizance of the offence of defamation against high dignitaries of
State and public servants employed in connection with the affairs of the
Union or a State while acting in the discharge of their official functions
can be taken by the Sessions Judge when the Public Prosecutor makes
a complaint to him in writing. [s. 199 (2)].
• Section 237 provides for a special trial procedure to be followed by a
Court of Session taking cognizance of an offence under Section 199(2).
• The primary object behind Section 199(2) and the remaining sub-
sections {3), (4) and (5) of Section 199 is to provide a machinery
enabling the government to step in to maintain confidence in the purity
of administration when high dignitaries and other public servants are
wrongly defamed.
• The trial in such cases, subject to the provisions of Section 237 above, shall be
according to the procedure laid down in Sections 244 to 247 for the trial of warrant
cases instituted otherwise than on a police report before a Court of Magistrate.
• So, Cases tried before a Court of Session are all warrant cases except the cases of
defamation tried under Section 237.
 CHAPTER XIX TRIAL OF WARRANT-CASES BY MAGISTRATES

• This Chapter is concerned with procedure in respect of trial of

warrant-cases either instituted on a police report (see sections
238–243) or instituted otherwise than on a police report (see
sections 244–247). The last part (sections 248–250) deals with
the conclusion of the trial.
DIFFERENCE CHART 1
DIFFERENCE CHART 2