[FULL BENCH]

Present : Ennis, De Sampayo, and Schneider JJ.

EBERT v. PERERA.

166-P. C. Colombo, 40,782.

Criminal Procedure Code, ss. 187 and 425-Charge read from report-Is irregularity fatal ?-Appearance by accused after summons or warrant was issued, but before service-Charge read from summons.

Where proceedings were instituted under section 148 (b) of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1898, on a written report to the Magistrate that the accused had committed an offence punishable with more than three months' imprisonment, and the accused appeared without a summons or warrant being issued, and the Magistrate endorsed on the report " charge read from the report."

Held, that there was an omission to frame a charge, and that the irregularity was not covered by section 425.

DE SAMPAYO J.-An omission in the charge-an omission, for instance, of the necessary particulars in the charge-may be regarded as an irregularity which may be cured by section 425 if no prejudice has been thereby occasioned to the accused. But the entire absence of a charge, when a Magistrate ought to have framed one, is not a mere irregularity which may be overlooked under se