The judgment established the importance of the Magistrate's judicial functions and the rights of the accused in the committal process, emphasizing the necessity for proper scrutiny and inquiry before committing a case to the Court of Session.

1. This is a reference made by the Sessions Judge, Palghat, under S.395 (2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, for quashing the order of committal of the accused in P. E. Case No. 1/77 passed by the Judicial Magistrate of First Class, Pattambi. The question referred for consideration relates to the interpretation of S.208, 209 and 328 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and is whether an accused person, a lunatic who is incapable of defending himself, can be straigh-away committed to the Court of Session for trial.

2. I shall now state a few facts necessary for the disposal of the case. In connection with the murder of his step-mother by cutting her with a chopper at about 12 noon on February 27,1977, Velayudhan, the accused, was arrested and taken into custody and on the next day he was produced before the Magistrate and was remanded to the Sub Jail, Ottappalam. In the meanwhile the Superintendent of the Sub Jail, informed the court that the Jail doctors, on examining the accused, found that he was mentally ill Thereafter he was sent to the Superintendent, Mental Hospital, Calicut with a "reception order" and the doctor, after examination, issued a certificate stating that the accused is suffering from SCHIZOPHRENIA. A charge sheet was laid before the Magistrate, Pattambi, on completion of investigation by the Detective Inspector, on 23-4-1977. The Magistrate posted the case to 3-5-1977 asking the police to bring copies of all documents. Thereafter a warrant was issued to the Mental Hospital, Calicut, to produce the accused before the Magistrate on 13-5-1977. On this date, when the accused was produced, the learned Magistrate without furnishing his copies which were supplied by the police committed him to the Court of Session on the ground that, the accused was incapable of understanding anything that was happening in court, S.209 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (hereinafter referred to as the New Code) does not require of him to hold an inquiry and that the offence disclosed was one exclusively triable by the Court of Session. There is a direction by the Magistrate that "during and until the conclusion of the trial, the accused will be in the Mental Hospital, Calicut."

3. As the accused was incapable of defending himself, the Magistrate should have, after conducting the necessary inquiry in this respect, postponed the proceedings under S.328 of the New Code. Preliminary inquiry under Chapter XVIII of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 (hereinafter referred to as the Old Code) has been dispensed with in the New Code. Chapter XVIII of the Old Code consisting of S.206 to 220 deal with inquiry in cases triable by Court of Session or the High Court (both cases instituted on private complaints and police reports). The procedure relating to commitment of cases to Court of Session is provided for under S.209 of the New Code which appears in Chanter XVI. Ss.206 to 210 of the New Code contain new provisions. It is true that preliminary inquiry as contemplated under S.207A and 208 of the Old Code has been dispensed with under S.209 of the New Code. That does not mean what the Magistrate has been enjoined to do is only a sheer mechanical process of committing the case to the Court or Session if the offence is one exclusively triable by the Court of Session. The order of commitment is a judicial order and before passing such an order the Magistrate has certain preliminary functions to perform, some of which are also judicial in nature. Before acting under S.209 of the New Code the Magistrate has to satisfy himself whether requirements under Ss 207 and 208 of the New Code have been properly and satisfactorily complied with. A preliminary inquiry into a case exclusively triable by a Court of Session, under the Old Code, involved recording of evidence also. It was mainly because that a preliminary inquiry under the Old Code involved a great deal of infructuous work causing delay in the trial of serious cases that the preli