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Synopsis

The Supreme Court has on May 1, 2024 said the charge sheet is integral to the process of taking cognisance, the issue of notice and framing of charge, so it must contain clear and complete entries of all columns to enable the court to understand which crime has been committed by which accused and what is the material evidence available on the file.

"Being the only investigative document and evidence available to the court till that stage. Substantiated reasons and grounds for an offence being made in the charge sheet are a key resource for a Magistrate to evaluate whether there are sufficient grounds for taking cognisance, initiating proceedings, and then issuing notice, framing charges etc," a bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and S V N Bhatti said.

The court pointed out the details of the offence and investigation are not supposed to be a comprehensive thesis of the prosecution case, but at the same time, it must reflect a thorough investigation into the alleged offence. 

"It is on the basis of this record that the court can take effective cognisance of the offence and proceed to issue process in terms of Section 190(1)(b) and Section 204 of the Code. In case of doubt or debate, or if no offence is made out, it is open to the Magistrate to exercise other options which are available to him," the bench said.

The bench emphasised that the object and purpose of the police investigation is manyfold. It includes the need to ensure transparent and free investigation to ascertain the facts, examine whether or not an offence is committed, identify the offender if an offence is committed, and to lay before the court the evidence which has been collected, the truth and correctness of which is thereupon decided by the court.

"The investigating officer must make clear and complete entries of all columns in the charge sheet so that the court can clearly understand which crime has been committed by which accused and what is the material evidence available on the file. Statements under Section 161 of the Code and related documents have to be enclosed with the list of witnesses. The role played by the accused in the crime should be separately and clearly mentioned in the charge sheet, for each of the accused persons," the bench said.

The court also said the nature and standard of evidence to be elucidated in a charge sheet should prima facie show that an offence is established if the material and evidence is proven. The charge sheet is complete where a case is not exclusively dependent on further evidence. The trial can proceed on the basis of evidence and material placed on record with the charge sheet, it said.

The court rendered the important judgment on application of Section 173(2) and other provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code in a clutch of petitions.

With regard to Section 205, CrPC, the bench said the power to grant exemption to an accused from personal appearance before the court should not be read in a restrictive manner as applicable only after the accused has been granted bail. 

"The observation that there is no provision for granting exemption from personal appearance prior to obtaining bail, is not correct," the court said.

On Section 204, CrPC, the bench said, non-bailable warrants cannot be issued in a routine manner and that the liberty of an individual cannot be curtailed unless necessitated by the larger interest of public and the State. 

"While there are no comprehensive set of guidelines for the issuance of non bailable warrants, this court has observed on several occasions that non bailable warrants should not be issued, unless the accused is charged with a heinous crime, and is likely to evade the process of law or tamper/destroy evidence," the bench said.

The court also underscored that it is a settled position of law that non-bailable warrants cannot be issued in a routine manner and that the liberty of an individual cannot be curtailed unless necessitated by the larger interest of public and the state.

The bench also asked the magistrate to be cautious in examining whether the facts of the case disclosed a civil or a criminal wrong. 

"Attempts at initiating vexatious criminal proceedings should be thwarted early on, as a summoning order, or even a direction to register an FIR, has grave consequences for setting the criminal proceedings in motion. Any effort to settle civil disputes and claims which do not involve any criminal offence, by way of applying pressure through criminal prosecution, should be deprecated and discouraged," the bench said.