SECTION 342, CRIMINAL PROCEDURE CODE, DOES NOT APPLY TO TRIALS OF SUMMONS CASES.

( 1 ) BOTH these revisions are directed against the Judgment of the Eighth citv Magistrate, Hyderabad, dated 23rd May, 1960, finding the accused (petitioner in Criminal R C. No. 512 of 1960) hereinafter referred to as the accused, guilty of an offence under sections 323, Indian Penal Code, and sentencing him to pay a fine of Rs 50. Criminal R. C. No. 525 of 1960 has been preferred by the complamnant in the case asking for enhancement of the sentence. The revisions arising out of the same Judgment are heard together.

( 2 ) THE facts leading up to these revisions may be briefly noticed : on 31st December, 1959, at about 6 P. M. , the complainant (petitioner in criminal RC No. 525 of 1960), hereinafter referred to as the complainant, went to the house of the accused for the purpose of asking him for the repayment of a loan previously advanced by her to the accused. The accused and his wife came oat of the house and the accused beat her with a ruler on the head, and on or around the thighs a Police Constable had come there and took the complainant and the accused to the police-station, where the complainant lodged a report, which, however was treated as non-cognizable by the Police and so no further action was taken by them Consequently, the complainant filed a private complaint on 11th January, 1960 in the Court of the Eighth City Magistrate. Her sworn statement was taken on 19th January 1960 and the case was taken on file only against the present accused under section 323, Indian Penal Code. The evidence of the prosecution was commenced to be recorded on 18th March, 1960. Four witnesses for the prosecution were examined. Subsequently, on 4th April, 1960, defence witnesses I and 2 were examined on behalf of the accused. At this stage, the then presiding Magistrate was transferred and the successor took over the case, and on 23rd May, 1960 the Magistrate heard the arguments and convicted and sentenced the accused as aforesaid.

( 3 ) TWO points have been urged by Mr. Chobe, the learned counsel for the accused. Firstlv that the conviction and sentence should be set aside and a retrial ordered in view of the fact that the Magistrate who passed the conviction and sentence had not heard the evidence in the case at all and that section 350 of the Code of Criminal procedure applied only to cases where at least a portion of the evidence had been heard and recorded by the Magistrate, who ultimately pronounced the finding and sentence The second point taken is that the mandatory provision contained in section 342 Criminal Procedure Code, had not been complied with and that the accused had not been questioned in accordance therewith on the conclusion of the prosecution evidence, and that the failure to comply with that provision vitiated the trial, and, therefore, the conviction and sentence passed by the magistrate cannot be held to be valid and sustainable. Mr Chobe advisedly refrained from canvassing the questions of fact and the evidence in the case, realising that the scope of the exercise of the revisional powers of this Court is limited, and confined mainly to questions of law.

( 4 ) AS regards the first point, a reference to section 350, Criminal Procedure Code, makes it clear that it is open to the Magistrate who made the finding and passed the sentence in the case, to do so on the evidence recorded wholly or in part by his predecessor. This section is in the following words :-" (1) Whenever any Magistrate, after having heard and recorded the whole or any part of the evidence in an inquiry or a trial, ceases to exercise jurisdiction therein, and is succeeded by another magistrate who has and who exercises such jurisdiction, the Magistrate so succeeding may act On the evidence so recorded by his predecessor, or partly recorded by his predecessor and partly recorded by himself: provided that if the succeeding Magistrate is of opinion that further examination of any of the witnesses whose evidence has already been recorded is necessar

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