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Chandan Pasi & Ors. vs. The State of Bihar

Not available · 2025 INSC 1371Decided 1 Dec 2025
Not available
Justice Sanjay Karol · Justice Nongmeikapam Kotiswar Singh

Background

On 31 March 2016, six persons (later found to include a seventh who was a juvenile) allegedly surrounded and assaulted Ghughali Pasi with a country-made pistol (katta) as he returned from the fields with family members, killing him. The trial court convicted six adults, including the three appellants (Chandan Pasi, Pappu Pasi and Gidik Pasi) under Section 302 read with Section 34 IPC, sentencing them to life imprisonment; the Patna High Court upheld the conviction. The appellants challenged this before the Supreme Court primarily on the ground that their examination under Section 313 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (the stage where an accused is questioned on the incriminating evidence against them) was improperly conducted.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court reviewed established case law on Section 313 CrPC, which requires that every material incriminating circumstance be put to the accused specifically and separately so they have a genuine opportunity to explain it: a safeguard rooted in natural justice, not a mere formality. Examining the actual statements recorded, the Court found they were near-identical "carbon copies" for all three appellants, with only vague, omnibus questions and denials instead of specific incriminating circumstances being put to each accused individually. It held this amounted to a serious, prejudicial failure by both the trial judge and the prosecutor (who is duty-bound to assist the court fairly, not act as a prosecution advocate at this stage). Without addressing the other grounds of appeal, the Court allowed the appeals on this ground alone and remanded the matter to the trial court to recommence from the stage of recording proper Section 313 statements, limited to these three appellants, within four months.

Lesson Learnt

An accused person's statement under Section 313 CrPC is not a procedural box-ticking exercise. Courts must put each specific piece of incriminating evidence to the accused individually, and identical, generic "carbon copy" questioning of multiple co-accused can itself be enough to send a case back for retrial at that stage, regardless of how strong the other evidence might be.

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

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