At the stage of framing of the charge, the accused has no right to produce any material, and the trial court has to apply its judicial mind to the facts of the case to determine whether a case has been made out by the prosecution for trial on the basis of charge-sheet material only.

JUDGMENT :

Rakesh Kainthla, J.

The present revision is directed against the order dated 12.1.2021, passed by the learned Sessions Judge (Forest), Shimla vide which multiple charges were framed against the petitioner (accused before the learned Trial Court). (Parties shall hereinafter be referred to in the same manner as they were arrayed before the learned Trial Court for convenience).

2. Briefly stated, the facts giving rise to the present revision are that the informant Gulam (since deceased) and his brother Azad Ali were residing in Village Bholar. They were Gujjars by profession. Gulam Ali woke up on 24.7.2018 at around 2.00 AM and went to check his cattle. Ravin alias Tinu son of Ramesh and another person restrained him and gave him beatings with kicks, fists and sticks. He shouted for help and both the people ran away. He narrated this incident to his brother Azad Ali, who brought him to the hospital. The Doctor informed the police. The police visited the hospital and recorded the statement of the informant-Gulam. Subsequently, the informant succumbed to his injuries. The police obtained the postmortem report. The Medical Officer stated that the deceased had sustained 20 injuries which were ante-mortem in nature and could have been caused by a blunt force. The cause of death was the cumulative effect of multiple antemortem injuries. The police arrested Ravin alias Tinu and found during the investigation that Ravin, Rohit, Sanjay Kumar, Digvijay Singh, Naveen Kumar and Prashant Rathore had given beatings to the deceased. The police added Sections 147, 148, 149, and 452 of IPC and removed Section 34 of IPC from the list of offences. The police arrested the accused persons and effected the recovery of various articles pursuant to the disclosure statement made by each of the accused. The police found out during the investigation that Rohit Kumar was posted as a Forest Guard in Mandal beet. Sanjay Kumar was posted as Forest Guard in Chajpur Beat, Digvijay was posted as Forest Guard in Kawalta Beet and Prashant Rathore was posted as Forest Guard in Dhansar Beet. They associated Tinu with them on 23.7.2018. They went to Bhollar nallah. They called the deceased and gave him beatings. The accused proclaimed that the deceased and his brother were in the habit of stealing the timber and they just wanted to know where the timber was kept by the deceased and his brother. When the deceased and his brother did not reveal the whereabouts of the stolen timber, they gave him beatings mercilessly.

3. The learned Trial Court heard the arguments on the charge and held that the Court is not to weigh the evidence at this stage. The Court is to see the prima facie case and apply its judicial mind. The material on record was sufficient to frame charges. Accordingly, the learned Trial Court framed charges against the accused for the commission of offences punishable under Sections 147, 148, 149, 323, 341, 302 and 452 of IPC.

4. Being aggrieved from the order framing charge, the present revision has been filed asserting that the learned Trial Court erred in framing the charge. If two views are possible and the evidence on record gives rise to the suspicion only, the accused can be discharged. Learned Trial Court did not deal with the submission raised by the accused and wrongly relied upon the judgment of the Hon’ble Supreme Court. The facts of the cited case are entirely different. The victim had made the statement that he was beaten by Ravin @ Tinu and other persons due to which he had sustained injuries. The learned Trial Court did not appreciate this statement and erred in framing the charge. First aid was provided to the victim at Civil Hospital, Rohru from where he was referred to IGMC, Shimla but he was not taken to IGMC Shimla rather he was taken to his home. The Medical Officer at Rohru had found five injuries, whereas twenty injuries were found in the postmortem examination. There is no explanation for the remaining injuries. Learned Trial Co