General Principles of Criminal Cases,

Nature & Object of Criminal Procedure

Presented by- Group 01

Content & Presenters
• General Principles
o Innocence of the Accused – - Quazi Tahmid Rahman - 18421080
o Defence taken by the Accused – - Md. Raihan Uddin - 18421074
o Benefit of doubt – - Nadim Hasan Marjan - 18421046
o Mens rea or Motive – - Md. Afnan Faiyaz - 18421094
• Object of Criminal Procedure - Tanzila Mazumder - 18421082
• Nature of Criminal Procedure – Munirah Jahan - 18421050
General Principles

Innocence of the Accused

• What is the presumption of innocence?

The presumption of innocence imposes on the prosecution the burden of proving the charge and guarantees that no
guilt can be presumed until the charge has been proved beyond reasonable doubt.

• Burden of proof
In a criminal case, the accused is not required to prove his innocence - the prosecution is to prove that the accused is
guilty of the offence charged with. However, if the accused take any specific plea, the onus will be upon him to
prove the same.
In some recent decisions, the Appellate motivation applied the provision of section 106 of the Evidence Act in wife
killing cases and held the view that once the presence of the husband was paid at the time of death of the wife, the
onus would be shined upon the husband to explain how his wife met her death.
General Principles

Defence taken by the Accused

• The accused person is presumed to be innocent until his guilt is proved in all
stages of trial beyond reasonable doubt.
• Exception in burden of proof in case of chapter 4 of Penal Code provided as
“General Exception”(Sec-105 of Evidence Act)
• Condition of equivalent position of both parties while taking the plea of
private defence of life and property (Sec 300 of Penal Code)
• Principal established by the case of 50 DLR (AD) 126
General Principles

Benefit of doubt
• Charge against a person must be proved beyond any reasonable doubt.
• The benefit of doubt can only be given when there is any cogent reason which maybe gathered
from the whole evidence.
• If it is found from the whole evidence that the defence version of the case might be true, the
accused should be given benefit of doubts.
• Relevant Cases -
o 5 BLD (AD) 294
o 15 BLT (AD) 101

So, it is clear that there must be reasonable grounds for giving benefit of doubt to the accused
persons. But benefit of doubt cannot be given on hypothesis not supported by materials on record.
General Principles

Mens rea or Motive

‘Actus reus non facit reum nisi mens sit rea’

Brend v. Wood State v. Khandaker Zillul Bari

Object of Criminal Procedure

 Provides legal procedure for enforcement of penal provisions

 Defines the offence and its punishment
 Ensures the fair inquiry and investigation
 Charge is to be clear stated
 Speedy and accurate ascertainment of facts
 Accused person will be brought before the courts
 Courts will reach its decision after satisfying all the procedures
 Infliction of the penalty will be secured in the case of conviction
 No person will be condemned unheard
Nature of Criminal Procedure

• Prime general law of procedure for criminal proceedings in Bangladesh.

• A branch of procedural law containing some substantive elements.
• Deals with the Constitution of Bangladesh, classification and powers of criminal
courts of this country.
• Indicates the wrongs as public wrongs and state plays the role of the prosecutor.
• Punishments are usually incarceration or death penalty.
• Focuses in some details on the rights of suspects, accused people, victims and
witnesses.
Thank you!