TRIALS UNDER

CRIMINAL
PROCEDURE
BY: Mehran Rias
kirtin
 Trial
■ ‘trial’ basically means the Court’s decision or a judicial judgement by the
Court so as to decide the person’s guilt or innocence.
■ A trial is of a very crucial importance in a criminal case.
■ Section 190 CrPC[v] states those requirements that needs to be
accomplished before proceedings can be started by the Magistrate, this
statement basically means the power of the Magistrate to take knowledge of
a case. Section 204[vi] of CrPC basically provides Magistrate with the sole
power of either to take the case into the consideration or to reject the case on
some grounds. This section also determines the stage whether a case can
enter the stage of trial or not.
 History of Trials in India
■ The very first case took place in 1665 which was that of a British woman
namely Ascentia Dawes who was charged for murder of her salve girl. So,
the journey began from the case of a British woman and the jury trials were
put to an end by the very famous case of KM Nanavati v. State of
Maharashtra.
■ With the evolution of the East India Company into the Indian subcontinent,
the system of jury trial was established into two parts, first was inside the
presidency towns of Bombay, Calcutta and Madras and the other one was
the areas outside the presidency towns. In the year 1860, the Government of
India adopted the Indian Penal Code which constituted the mandatory
criminal jury only in the High Courts of the presidencies
■ Since then, the journey of a complete revolution in the legal system of the
nation started which has not only shown excellent results but also the
development of the judiciary system in India.
 Types of trials in CRPC
■ Sessions Trial or Trial by court of Session: – If the offence committed is punishable with
more than seven years of imprisonment or Life imprisonment or Death, the trial is to be
conducted in a Sessions court after being committed or forwarded to the court by a
magistrate.
■ Warrant Trial or Trial of Warrant cases: – Warrant case includes offence punishable with
the death penalty, imprisonment for life and imprisonment exceeding two years. A trial
in a warrant case begins either by filing an FIR in a Police Station or by filing it before a
Magistrate.
■ Summons Trial or Trial of Summons cases: – If the offense committed is punishable by
imprisonment less than two years, it is treated as a summons case. In relation to this
crime, it is not necessary to frame charges. The magistrate issues summons under section
204 (1) (a) of Cr.P.C, 1973.
■ Summary Trials: – The trials in which cases are disposed of rapidly and a simple
procedure is followed and recording of such trials are done summarily. In this trial only
small cases are taken up and complex cases are reserved for summons and warrant trials.
Legal provisions for trials

■ Sections 225-237 deal with trial of warrant cases by a

Session court.
■ Sections 238-250 deal with trial of warrant cases by
magistrates.
■ Sections 251-259 provides procedure for trial of
summons cases by magistrates.
■ Sections 260-265 make provisions relating to summary
trials.
Procedure in Different
types of trials
 Criminal trial in sessions court
First Stage of Trial
■ Section 226: – In the Court of Session, each trial is to be conducted by the
Public Prosecutor (Section 225). The Court of Session is not only
accountable in taking cognizance of the offences under Section 199; it can
also take cognizance of any matter pertaining to the offence of grievous
nature.
■ Section 227: – If after considering the evidence and presenting the accused,
the judge will consider whether to proceed with the case or not.
■ Section 228: – The allegations alleged must be read aloud and clearly in
front of the accused with an easily understandable language and the accused
is asked whether he is guilty of the above charges.
Second Stage of Trial
• Section 229: – If the accused is very well aware of the charges framed
against him and pleads guilty to the same, the judge will file his plea and
convict him, but it all depends on the discretion of the judge. Under section
229, the judge has the power to convict the accused, but it is desirable that
the accused is not directly convicted. The prosecution will have to call in
order to prove its case by adding appropriate course evidence.

• Section 230: – If the accused refuses to plead under section 229, the judge
will fix a date for prosecution of witnesses, production of any documents
etc. On the due date fixed by the judge, he will examine the witnesses,
evidence can be produced in support of the prosecution.
Third Stage of Trial
• Section 232: – If after examining the accused and the evidence given by the
prosecution, the judge considers that there is no evidence that the accused
committed the crime; The judge acquits the accused.

• Section 233: – If the evidence given by the prosecution clearly justifies the
court in framing of charges and acquitting the accused, then the defense
counsel will add evidence in support of his client. Even the accused can
apply for the issue of any witness or the issue of any process for the
production of a document or thing but this should not give a wrong
impression to the court defeating the ends of justice.

• Section 234 and 235: – After hearing both sides, when the issue arises to
make a closing statement that section 314 of the Act applies and a closing
statement is given by defence. The judge will give the final decision after
keeping in mind all the evidences.
 Procedure of Trial in Warrant Cases
Police Case
■ Section 238: – In compliance with Section 207, the Magistrate
should satisfy himself that he has been supplied with all necessary
documents along with the charge sheet.
■ Section 239: – If after considering the charge sheet filed under
section 173, the magistrate considers the charge against the
accused to be baseless, he shall discharge the accused and record
the reasons for such discharge.
■ Section 240: – If in the magistrate’s opinion in the case that the
accused is triable then charges will be framed against the accused .
Second Stage of Trial
• Section 242(3): – After framing the charge under section
240, the magistrate must prove under section 242 Cr.PC
and under sub-section (3) of that section that the magistrate
proceed to take all such evidence arising in support of the
prosecution.

• Section 243: – This provision and the provisions in sub-

sections (1) and (2) of Section 243, CrPC, are mandatory.
And section 243 provisions apply to cases instuted under
police report and personal complaint
Private Complaint
First stage of trial
• Section 244: – If the case is filed on a private complaint
and the accused is brought before a magistrate, the
prosecution must satisfy itself with all the evidence
produced and may issue summons to give directions to
witnesses to attend or produce any document.

• Section 245: – After taking all the evidence under section

244, if the magistrate finds it appropriate to free the
accused at any previous stage of the case, his charges are
considered baseless.
Second stage of trial
Section 247: – The defense counsel will present his evidence to support the
accused. If charges are framed against the accused and the magistrate finds him
not guilt then the order of acquittal will be issued and he will be issued.

On the off chance that any case is organized on the objection to judge or to
Police official or a blamed individual is introduced before the justice and
officer finds that there is no ground against denounced individual then he will
be released quickly by the judge, the individual who did the protest will be
called to give clarification of why he ought not pay add up to the individual
against whom blamed charges were made.
 Procedure of Trial in Summons Cases
First stage of trial
■ Section 251: – On the appearance of the accused before the magistrate, the offense for
which he has been charged, should be communicated to him and ask him whether he is
guilty of the same offense to which he is charged.
■ Section 253: – Where the accused has been summoned under section 206 and, therefore,
he pleads guilty without appearing before the magistrate, he shall transmit to the
magistrate by post or through a messenger. He will also explain the fine in the summons,
but if the accused does not uphold his plea of ​guilty, the magistrate with his discretionary
powers will sentence him to pay the penalty specified in his summons.
■ Procedure when not convicted under Section 252 or Section 203: – Then in such a case a
magistrate shall hear the prosecution and take evidence arising in support of the
prosecution and directing him to produce in court or produce documents or any other
thing
Second Stage of trial
• Acquittal or Conviction: – If the Magistrate is satisfied that the accused has committed
the offence then the magistrate can convict the accused under Section 252 or Section 255
and where the magistrate is taking evidence under Section 254 and finds that the accused
is not guilty of the charges framed against him then he will order acquittal and will
release the accused.
• Withdrawal of complaint (Section 257): – Before the final order is passed, if the
complainant satisfies the magistrate that he has sufficient grounds to withdraw his
complaint against the accused, and then the magistrate can allow him to withdraw the
case.
• Power of court to convert summon cases in warrant cases (Section 259): – In the course
of summons case with offense punishable for a period not exceeding six months, if in the
interest of justice, the magistrate may convert the summons case into the warrant case
and rehearsing the case in the manner provided in the warrant case procedure
 Procedure of Summary trial
The most important objective of summary trial is to dispose of the cases speedily.
The procedure to be followed under summary trial is similar to the procedure specified for
summons trial.
If the penalty is not more than two hundred rupees, no chance of appeal will be given.

■ Section 264: – In each case of summary trial, if the accused is not

guilty, the magistrate will record the substance of the evidence and
the judgment given must also contain a brief description of the
reason for coming to a particular finding.
■ Section 265: – Emphasizes that every such record i.e. the details
mentioned in Section 263 and the substance of evidence and
judgment should be recorded in the language of the court.
 Case laws
■ Biru Ram vs Ishar Singh & onr.
In this case , court held that section 253 of the Code of Criminal
Procedure, provides that nothing in this section shall be construed to
prevent a magistrate from discharging the accused at any previous
stage of the case and the reasons should be recorded by such
magistrate he considers this allegation as baseless.

■ Vijay Raj vs State of Rajasthan

In this case held that the procedure to be followed after the
accused is called upon to present his defense, is similar to the
the cases generated upon a police report and those instituted
otherwise than on police report.
Thank you