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1953 Supreme(Cal) 176
HIGH COURT OF CALCUTTA
GUHA RAY, DEBABRATA MOOKHERJEE
ANIL KUMAR BISWAS - Appellant
Versus
STATE OF WEST BENGAL - Respondent
Criminal Misc. Case 108 Of 1953 And Revn. No. 761 Of 1953
Decided On : AUGUST 13, 1953
A.C.ROY, N.K.Sen, Sunil Mukherji
An accused is not entitled to a free copy of the judgment of the appellate court as a matter of right, but the court may exercise its discretion under Section 548, Cr. P. C. to grant a free copy for special reasons.
Headnote:
CRIMINAL PROCEDURE CODE - SECTION 371, 424, 488, 490, 548 - APPLICABILITY - COPY OF JUDGMENT - RIGHT OF ACCUSED - DISCRETION OF COURT.
Fact of the Case:
The applicant, Anil Kumar Biswas, was convicted under Section 409, I. P. C. and his conviction was upheld on appeal. On revision, however, that conviction was set aside and the applicant was acquitted. The applicant applied for a copy of the judgment of acquittal passed by the High Court in exercise of its criminal revisional jurisdiction.
Finding of the Court:
The High Court held that the applicant was not entitled to a free copy of the judgment as a matter of right under Section 371, Cr. P. C. However, the court exercised its discretion under Section 548, Cr. P. C. and allowed a free copy to be granted to the applicant on the ground of his poverty.
Issues: Whether the applicant was entitled to a free copy of the judgment of acquittal passed by the High Court in exercise of its criminal revisional jurisdiction.
Ratio Decidendi: The High Court held that Section 371, Cr. P. C. applies only to a copy of the judgment of the original court and not to a copy of the judgment of the appellate court. Section 424, Cr. P. C. makes the rules contained in Chapter 26 of the Code, which deals with the judgment of a criminal court of original jurisdiction, applicable, as far as practicable, to the judgment of an appellate court other than a High Court. However, Section 548, Cr. P. C. entitles any person affected by a judgment or order passed by a criminal court to have a copy of the judgment, charge to the jury or of any order or deposition or other part of the record of which he wants to have a copy. The proviso to this Section says that the party asking for a copy has to pay for the same unless the court for some special reasons thinks fit to furnish it free of costs.
Final Decision: The High Court allowed a free copy of the judgment to be granted to the applicant on the ground of his poverty.
( 1 ) THIS is an application by Anil Kumar Biswas for a copy of judgment of acquittal passed by this Court in exercise of its criminal revisional jurisdiction. The applicant was convicted under Section 409, I. P. C. and his conviction was upheld on appeal. On revision however that conviction was set aside and the applicant was acquitted.
( 2 ) THE matter was argued at some length before us on behalf of the applicant by Mr. Ray and on behalf of the State by Mr. Sen. Thres cases of this Court were referred to in the office note. The earliest was -- 'govt. Appeal No. 4 of 1922 (Cal)' (A) and Greaves and Panton JJ. passed the following order:"under the provisions of Section 371 of the Code of Criminal Procedure the accused is entitled to the copy free of cost. "no reasons whatever were assigned nor was any attempt made to explain what Section 371, Cr. P. C. really meant.
( 3 ) THE next case was -- 'misc. Case No. 184 of 1952 (B)', but this, however, does not relate to the grant of a copy of a judgment of this Court on appeal or revision. A reference was made by the Sessions Judge of Coorh Behar as to whether the accused was entitled to a copy of a judgment on appeal passed by the Sessions Judge and it was decided that Sections 371/424 left no room for doubt that the accused was entitled to a free copy thereof.
( 4 ) IN the last case, viz. , -- 'ref. No. 8 of 1952' (C), it was decided by Mitter and Sen JJ. that in veiw of Sections 424 and 371, Cr. P. C. the accused was not entitled as a matter of right to a free copy but Section 548 entitled the court to allow a copy free of cost at its own discretion and in that case a copy was allowed free of cost.
( 5 ) NONE of these decisions, although they are entitled to great respect, are really helpful because none of them tries to construe the relevant Sections. The first of these Sections to be considered is Section 371 occurring in Chapter 26 of the Code, the Chapter being headed "of the Judgment". It has been argued by Mr. Bay that this Section does not apply merely to a copy of the judgment of the trial Court but also to a copy of the judgment of the appellate Court and Section 424 really relates to the contents of the judgment and to the production of the accused in court at the time of delivery of the judgment and to nothing else in Chap. 26.
( 6 ) HE next refers us to Section 490 and argues that although this Section applies in terms to a copy of the original order under Section 488, it must cover an appellate order under Section 488 because unless that were so, there is actually no provision in the Code under which a copy is to be made over to the person in whose favour or against whom the order is made although for its enhancement by another Magistrate under Section 490 such a copy is necessary and although the law requires a copy of this order to be filed along with a petition for revision.
( 7 ) SECTION 371 of the Code, as already stated, occurs in Chap. 26 which bears the heading "of the Judgment. " The Criminal Procedure Code is divided into 9 parts, each part consisting of a number of Chapters and each Chapter consisting of a number of Sections. Chap. 26 occurs in Part 6, and the general heading of this Part is "proceedings in Prosecutions. " Section 424 occurs in Chapter 31 which again is in Part VII of the Code and this Part bears the heading "of Appeal, Reference and Revision. " Sections 488 and 490 occur in Chap. XXXVI which is in Part 8 bearing the heading "special proceedings. " In addition there is another Section to which we shall have occasion to refer viz. , Section 548 occurs in Chap. XLVI which is in Part IX bearing the heading "supplementary provisions. "
( 8 ) THE scheme of the Code therefore makes it clear that Part 6 in which Chap. 26 occurs relates to proceedings before the trial court and it is only in Part 7 that appeals, references and revisions are dealt with. Part 8 where Sections 488 and 499 occur, relate to special proceedings and t
