Procedure of Criminal Trials

INTRODUCTION:-

A criminal trial is a proceeding in which the accused is tried for the wrongful act committed by him, in accordance with the law established and applicable on such wrongful act/ offence. Generally, criminal law is set in motion after registration of the FIR (first information report) against the accused but in some cases such as 498A IPC conciliatory proceedings are mandatory before the CAW( crime against women) Cell prior to registration of the FIR. In criminal law, there are two types of offences i.e cognizable and non-cognizable. In the cognizable offences, registration of the FIR is mandatory under section 154 Cr.P.C whereas in the non-cognizable offence, registration of the FIR under section 154 Cr.P.C is not mandatory, and only NCR (Non-cognizable report) under section 155 Cr.P.C is required to be registered. Another major difference between the cognizable and non-cognizable offences is that in the cognizable offences the police are empowered to arrest the person named in the FIR but in the non-cognizable offence the police cannot arrest the person without a warrant issued by the Magistrate. After registration of the FIR, the accused could be arrested depending on the gravity of the offence. Thereafter investigation of the case is commenced to collect the evidence and other materials connected with the case to prove the case of the prosecution. Investigation of the case is a very impotent and crucial stage of the case which decides the further course of action for the trial of the case. After investigation, a charge sheet is required to be filed in the court on which the court takes cognizance of the matter and since then the actual trial of the case starts. The main stages of the criminal trial are bifurcated as under:-

REGISTRATION OF FIR: Criminal law is set in motion only after the registration of the FIR against the accused. As earlier mentioned, there are two types of offences i.e cognizable and non-cognizable. In the cognizable offence, registration of the FIR is mandatory under section 154 Cr.P.C if the information given by the aggrieved person discloses cognizable offence in nature whereas in the non-cognizable offence registration of the FIR under section 154 Cr.P.C is not permissible and only NCR (Non-cognizable report) under section 155 Cr.P.C.is required to register.

BAIL: After registration of an FIR, the first requirement is to secure an anticipatory bail for all the persons who are named in the FIR. Application for anticipatory bail is filed under section 438 of Cr.P.C. It can be filed before the Session Court or High Court but it is always good to file anticipatory bail before the Session Court first and if Session Court declined to grant anticipatory bail then the application should be filed before the High Court. Filing anticipatory bail application directly in the High court is not appropriate as the High court generally does not entertain the application and directing the petitioner to approach first the Session Court. But in a case when a person named in the FIR has been arrested then section 438 Cr.P.C would not be applicable. After arrest, Section 437 Cr.P.C for filing regular bail application before the Magistrate and Section 439 Cr.P.C for filing bail application before the Session Court will be applicable. The Judicial principle is BAIL IS RULE AND JAIL IS EXCEPTION that was laid down by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in a landmark judgment of “State of Rajasthan Vs. Balchand alias Baliya AIR (1977) 2447 is still presumed as a fundamental rule in respect of bail matters.

INVESTIGATION: After registration of an FIR, investigation of the case is commence to collect the evidence and other materials connected with the case to prove the allegations of the FIR. Investigation of the case is a very impotent and crucial stage of the case which decides the further course of action for the trial of the case.

FILING OF CHARGESHEET: After investigation, a report under section 173 Cr.P.C in the form of a charge sheet is required to be submitted in the competent court having jurisdiction over the police station under which the alleged offence has been committed.

COGNIZANCE BY COURT: Cognizance means a judicial notice by the court. On this point, the Judge applied his judicial mind on the materials collected during the investigation to frame his opinion as to whether there are prima facie sufficient materials on the record to proceed further in the case. Taking cognizance of the charge sheet is the starting point of the criminal trial. 

FRAMING OF CHARGE: As per the materials and evidence collected during the Investigation and submitted in the form of a charge sheet before the court, Judge frames the charges against the accused. Framing of charge is the prima facie opinion and not a definite opinion about the guilt of the accused, meaning thereby, charges framed may or may not be proved in the full-fledged trial.

EVIDENCE: On the framing of the charge, if the accused pleaded not guilty, then the evidence of the case will start to establish the charges framed against the accused. For this, all the cited witnesses would be examined to reach the conclusion of the case. It is the settled law that to probe the charges against the accused, the prosecution has to prove its case beyond reasonable doubts otherwise benefit of the doubt always goes in favour of the accused and the accused will be acquitted giving the benefit of doubt pursuant to the settled principle of law that the ACCUSED IS INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY.

STATEMENT OF THE ACCUSED: At the end of the evidence, the accused is given an opportunity to give his statement u/s 313 Cr.P.C in his defence before the court.

DEFENCE EVIDENCE:- The accused has been provided an option to produce his witness in his defence. It is not always necessary to lead defence evidence but if the accused thinks that there are certain witnesses whose statements could play an important role to prove his innocence, they must be examined.

FINAL ARGUMENTS: Final argument is the last opportunity for the prosecution and defence to put their respective submissions in support of their respective stand. The prosecution would try to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt to secure a conviction for the accused while the defence would try to prove that the prosecution is failed to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt or the case is false and the accused has been falsely implicated in the case as such he is liable to be acquitted from all the charges.

JUDGMENT: The final stage of the case is the final opinion of the Judge on the case which is called the Judgment of the case. It can go in two ways either acquittal or conviction. In the event of conviction, the accused has the option to challenge his conviction order before the higher court. Similarly, the prosecution also has the right to challenge the acquittal order before the higher court in a case where the accused has been acquitted.