Calcutta HC Sets Aside Conviction Over Non-Recording Of Statement U/s. 313 CrPC, Remits Back Matter To Trial Court

The Calcutta High Court has set aside the order of conviction and sentence against the accused persons involved in committing culpable homicide on account of the non-recording of the accused’s statement under Section 313 of the Cr.PC.

The Court while relying upon the case of Nar Singh v. State of Haryana (2015) 1 Supreme Court Cases 496 remanded back the matter to the Trial Court.

The Division Bench of Justice Debangsu Basak and Justice Md. Shabbar Rashidi held, “In the facts and circumstances of the present case, there is a possibility of the appellants being prejudiced in the event the appeal court examines the accused under Section 313 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. There is a possibility of the accused losing one forum of appeal. In such circumstances, we adopt the procedure of Nar Singh (supra) and remit the appeal to the learned Trial Court for the purpose of examining Nanda Samanta @ Nanda Lal Samanta under Section 313 of the Code of Criminal Procedure afresh.”

In the Nar Singh case, the Court remitted the matter for recording the statement of the accused under Section 313 of the Cr.PC.

“Consequently, the impugned judgment of conviction and order of sentence as against the all appellants are set aside. On remand, the trial court will proceed from examining Nanda Samanta under Section 313 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, other accuseds being already examined”, the Court said.

Advocate Soumyajit Das Mahapatra and Advocate Arindam Jana represented the appellants in this case.

Brief Facts –

The Registry department endeavored to prepare the paper books to make the appeal ready for hearing. While doing so, the department came across an examination of one of the accused under Section 313 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and found that the answers to the questions put were not filled up.

The examination under Section 313 of such accused contained the signature of the accused and of the Judicial Officer examining such accused. Faced with such materials on record, the department requested the Trial Court to rectify the anomalies/defects. The Trial Court communicated that the same was not possible and consequently, the papers were put up before the High Court.

The High Court in view of the facts and circumstances of the case noted, “The Court is informed that the appellants in CRA (DB) 18 of 2023 are on bail. Such bail will continue for a period of four weeks from date or until further orders passed by the trial court, whichever is earlier. … The Court is informed that such appellants were on bail till the impugned judgment of conviction.”

The Court further observed that since it is setting aside the judgment of conviction and the order of sentence, it would be appropriate to grant bail to the appellants.

“Bail was granted to the appellants in CRA (DB) 2 of 2022 will continue for a period of four weeks or until further orders of the learned Trial Judge whichever is earlier”, the Court asserted.

Accordingly, the Court remitted back the matter to the Trial Court.

Cause Title- Nanda Samanta @ Nanda Lal Samanta & Anr. v. The State of West Bengal

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