In Criminal Appeal No. 3563 of 2023 -SC- Supreme Court sets aside High Court order permitting splitting of trial of 31 accused in criminal case, deems it premature given ongoing investigation
Justice Abhay S. Oka & Justice Pankaj Mithal [21-11-2023]

Read Order: S. Mujibar Rahman V. The State Rep. By Inspector of Police & Anr

Chahat Varma

New Delhi, November 29, 2023: In a significant ruling, the Supreme Court has overturned a High Court order that split the trial of 31 accused in a criminal case. The Apex Court determined that the High Court failed to consider the Magistrate's reasons for not splitting the trial and that the decision to split the trial was premature given that further investigation was ongoing.

In summary, a First Information Report was registered against 31 accused for offenses under Sections 395, 397, 212, 120B, and Section 3 of the Tamil Nadu Public Property Damages Act. The Judicial Magistrate's order, dated 16th June 2019, revealed that despite efforts, the presence of some accused could not be secured, and the non-bailable warrants and summons had not been executed, with a report from the police department expressing their inability to do so. Consequently, the magistrate rejected the prayer made by the second accused invoking Section 317(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Cr.P.C.).

Subsequently, the second accused filed a Revision Application before the High Court challenging the Magistrate's order. The High Court, in its impugned judgment, highlighted the prolonged pendency of the case since 2016 and the failure of the police to serve summons and nonbailable warrants to certain accused persons, leading to only 20 out of 31 accused attending the Court. The High Court allowed the splitting of the trial.

After perusing the impugned judgment, the division bench of Justice Abhay S. Oka and Justice Pankaj Mithal observed that the High Court had failed to consider the reasons recorded by the Magistrate. Additionally, the High Court did not take into account that the Judicial Magistrate had permitted further investigation on 13th February 2019. Therefore, the bench held that when the High Court permitted the splitting of the trial, it overlooked these crucial aspects. The first aspect was the Magistrate's dissatisfaction with the police's efforts to procure the presence of all accused, and the second was the order for further investigation. The bench concluded that the High Court should not have permitted the splitting of the case at this stage.

Ultimately, the appeal was allowed, and the impugned judgment and order from 23rd February, 2021 were set aside, restoring the original order of the Judicial Magistrate.

The appeal was accordingly allowed.