Trial before Court of Session

Initial stage
According to section 193 of Cr PC the court of session is barred from taking any cognizance of
offences directly. Being a highest criminal court in a district the session court is only permitted
to take cases, if the Magistrate commits it, or if it acts as a special Court Section 190 of the act
gives power to magistrate to take any cognizance of an offence, and further as per section 209,
he can commit the case to the session court without any proceeding in his court of under section
223 after beginning of the proceeding in his court Ones the case is committed by the magistrate,
he must supply the documents like FIR, Statements recorded by police and magistrate, police
report cte to the accuse, according to section 207 and 208. And under section 225 every trial
before a Court of Session is conducted by a Public Prosecutor.
Prosecution
Section 226 of Cr PC states that once the accuse is appeared or brought before the session court
the public prosecutor will open his case by describing the charges against the accuse and present
the evidences in form of summery by which he will proof the guilt of the accuse
Discharge
Under section 227 of Cr. PC the court after considering the documents and records, hearing the
prosecutor and the accuse on the respective matter, if finds that there is no sufficient ground to
proceed further against the accuse then in that case judge can discharge him. But in future if any
valid facts come into the scenario against the accuse which shows his guilt, then charges could
be imposed again
State of Kamatakav. L. Muniswamy
The object of this Section is to require the Judge to give reasons for discharging the accused is
to enable the superior court to examine the correctness of the reasons for which the Sessions
Judge has held that there is or is not sufficient ground or not to proceed against the accused
Framing of charge
Under section 228 of Cr. PC there are two situations in which session judge could frame charges
against the accuse-
1. When he considers that the offence is exclusively triable in the court of session, that is after
hearing the prosecutor and going through the documents and records along with the submitted
evidences
2 When the case is considered as incompatible in the session court, that is session judge may
frame the charges against the accuse and transfer the case to the chief judicial magistrate or any
other judicial magistrate of first class by order. Judge shall also direct the accuse to the judicial
magistrate under whom the case will be presented on the date as the he deems fit. The trial will
we conducted with the procedure laid under warrant case based on police report.
Explaining the charge
One the session judge has framed the charges against the accuse, considering that the case is
exclusively triable then according to section 228(2) he has to read out the charges and explain it
to the accuse and ask him whether he wants to confess his guilt or claim for the trial. It is the
fundamental right of the accuse to know that under what offences he has been charged and
therefore it's a duty of the judge to ensure that the charges are clearly understood by the accuse.
Conviction on plea of guilty
If the accuse plead guilty, the court under section 229 has the direction to accept the plea, But
before accepting the plea the session judge must ensure that the plea has been made with free
will and not inducement. Once the judge accepts the plea, he shall convict the accuse as per his
discretion and must record the same but if the plea of guilt is for such offences which is
punishable for death or imprisonment of life then in that scenario the court cannot convict based
on the confession made by the accuse, rather the full trial is conducted.
Date for prosecution evidence
In case if the accuse denies to plea guilty or if he is not convicted under section 299 by the
session judge, then under section 230 of the act the judge will fix a date for the examination of
the witnesses. On the application of the prosecution, compelling the attendance of the witnesses
or to produce any document a process will be issues by the judge.
Examination of witnesses
As per section 231 of Cr. PC, on the fixed date (as mentioned in section 230 of the act) the
prosecution will present the evidences in his support before the session judge. Judge on his
discretion can permit to postpone the cross-examination until the other witness or witnesses have
been examined or recall any witness or witnesses for further cross-examination.
Ram Prasad v. State of UP (Non-examination of all eyewitnesses)
It is mandatory for the prosecution to produce all the evidences as a proof of his pleading, but
it's not a general rule. Non-examination of any witness depends on the facts and circumstances
of the prosecution's case. If the enough number of eyewitnesses have been examined and their
evidences are relatable and sufficient to convict the accused, then in that set-up he could refrain
from examining other witnesses.
State of Kerala v. Rasheed
The court has interpreted the factors to check the balance between the rights of the accuse and
leading of evidence by the prosecution while exercising section 231(2) of the act-
1. undue influencing the accuse,
2. threats,
 3. in case if the court believe that, statement of any witness could influence the other
witnesses in that case the court could order the examination of that witness in the last.
4. if there is a memory loss of any witness then his examination will be conducted at the last
Order of the acquittal
When the trial procedure is completed, that is
1. taking evidences,
2. examining the witnesses,
3. hearing both the parties.
if the judge considers that there are no evidences which shows that the offence is committed by
the accuse, then under section 232 of the act the judge will record the order in the favor of accuse
for his acquittal.
Entering upon defense
If section 232 of the act is not applicable on the accuse, then under section 233 of Cr PC he must
present evidences in his support to show his innocence. In case if he submitted their evidence in
the written form then judge shall file it with the record.
If the accuse plead for presenting witnesses in favor of his case in the court or to produce any
document session judge shall issue such process under section 233(3) of the act. And if the judge
considers that, this plead is made to delay, purpose of vexation justice he shall refuse and record
the reason of refusal defeating the end of
Arguments
After the completion of examination of witnesses from the defense side, under section 234 of the
act, the prosecutor will sum up his case and accuse or his pleader will be permitted to give a
reply, if any point of law in raised in the reply, then prosecutor with the permission of the court
may make his submission regarding the point of law.
After hearing the argument from both the parties, judgement will be given by the court where
accuse will be either acquitted or convicted.
Judgment of acquittal or conviction
Once the argument is completed between prosecution and defendant, that is, after listening all the
point of law and examination of witnesses under section 235 of the act, the session judge will
pronounce the judgement. If the accuse is found guilty then he will be convicted and if not the
acquitted.
Section 235(2) of the act states that if the accuse is found guilty and convicted, and the judge not
proceeded according to the provisions of section 360 of Cr. PC then it is mandatory to hear the
accuse on the question of sentence (character of the offender, circumstances of offence and the
nature of offence) and then pass the sentence accordingly.
Santa Singh v. State of Punjab
The Apex court ruled that judge should first pass the sentence of acquittal or conviction. If the
accuse is convicted, then the court must hear the question of sentence and only after that pass
the sentence against him.
Previous conviction
If the accuse is previously convicted under section 211(7) Cr PC and it has not been admitted i
during the proceeding then the judge after passing the sentence of conviction against the accuse
under section 229 or 235 may call for the evidences related to the previous conviction according
to section 236 of the act, and shall record the finding, in case the accuse is liable for enhanced
punishment or different punishment. According to the proviso of the section such charges will
not be read out nor any plea will be accepted by the judge nor shall prosecution refer to such
conviction.
Procedures in case of defamation of high dignitaries and public servants
Under section 199(2) of the act, if any offence of defamation is committed against the person
who is President of India, the Vice President of India. Governor of a State, or any public servant
in the Union or State at that time when the complain was made by the public prosecutor in
writing the Court of Session may take cognizance of that offence without the case being
committed to it.
Now, section 237 of the act, gives the procedure of trial when the session court take the
cognizance of the offence under section 199(2). Therefore, according to this provision, the trial
should not be instituted on the police report. The session court will proceed this trial in the
manner of warrant cases.
According to the proviso of section 237(1), the person against whom the offence has been
committed can be examined as a witness for the prosecution, unless the court record any reason
or give any other directions.
Sub-section 2 of this provision says that if either of the parties want or on the discretion of the
court, this trial proceeding could be done under the camera.
Sub-section 3 gives the power to the court to discharge or acquits the accuse, if it believes that
the allegation made by the other party in not reasonable. And direct the victim (other than the
President, Vice-President or the Governor of a State or the Administrator of a Union territory) to
show cause why he should not give compensation to the accuse.
The compensation amount should not be more than rupees one thousand after considering the
satisfactory ground and recording the reason for the same. The amount of the compensation and
recovery should be same as imposed by the magistrate Paying to compensation by the person
will not be exempted from any civil or criminal liability. If sum of amount is paid to the accuse
before than it shall be taken in consideration.
A person can also appeal to the High Court against the order of the Court under this Section