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Ajay Kumar @ Bittu & Anr. v. The State of Uttarakhand & Anr.

Criminal Appeal · 2021 INSC 48Decided 29 Jan 2021
Criminal Appeal No. 88 of 2021
Justice Ashok Bhushan · Justice R. Subhash Reddy · Justice M.R. Shah

Background

The appellants were originally named in an FIR but were exonerated by the police in the charge-sheet. During the trial of the other accused, two prosecution witnesses implicated the appellants, leading the informant to apply under Section 319 CrPC to have them summoned as additional accused. The trial court rejected this, but the High Court, on a revision by the informant, sent the matter back for reconsideration, after which the appellants were summoned. The appellants' own revision against being summoned was then dismissed by the High Court, essentially on the technical ground that they had delayed producing a later, unrelated order on record.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that the High Court had completely failed to examine the correctness of the actual summoning order under Section 319 CrPC, and had instead wrongly dismissed the revision based on a subsequent, unrelated procedural order (regarding bailable/non-bailable warrants and forfeiture of sureties). The Court reiterated the settled principle (from the Constitution Bench in Hardeep Singh and reaffirmed in Rajesh) that Section 319 power is extraordinary and must be exercised sparingly, only on evidence stronger than a mere prima facie case. It set aside the High Court's judgment and directed the appellants' revision to be reconsidered afresh on its actual merits, including the appellants' claim that one of them was a juvenile at the time of the offence.

Lesson Learnt

A court reviewing an order must examine the actual legal basis for that order, not dismiss a challenge merely because of what happened in later, separate proceedings, and the extraordinary power to summon new accused mid-trial requires strong, specific evidence, not just a witness naming someone in passing.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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