Criminal Law Reforms: Amicus Curiae Submits Draft 'Criminal Rules Of Practice' Before SC [Read Report]

Pursuant to the directions issued by the Supreme Court in suo moto proceedings related to inadequacies in criminal trial system, Senior Advocates R Basant and Sidharth Luthra and Advocate K Parameshwar, amici curiae have submitted a Report outlining the 'Draft Rules of Criminal Practice, 2020'. A division bench of the Supreme Court comprised by Justice SA Bobde (now CJI) and Justice L Nageswara Rao, while hearing a criminal appeal noticed certain inadequacies in the procedure followed during criminal trials throughout the country. The bench also noted the diversity in practice rules across all the high courts and therefore suggested that all the states must come to a consensus to bring uniformity of practice. Consequently, vide orders dated November 7, 2017 and February 20, 2018 in suo moto proceedings titled In Re: To Issue Certain Guidelines Regarding Inadequacies and Deficiencies in Criminal Trials v. State of Andhra Pradesh & Ors., the bench appointed the above named Advocates as amici and directed the all the state governments and high courts to submit their responses on the issue. Consultation & Participation Subsequently, after receiving responses from 15 States/Union Territories and 21 High Courts, and after assessing written replies to the consultation papers evolved on the basis of the said responses, a Colloquium was convened by the amici on March 30, 2019, in the presence of representatives from 7 High Courts, 4 state governments and police departments of 3 states. The Draft Rules to ensure uniformity of practice have been prepared in line with the suggestions made by all the stakeholders in the abovementioned process, recognizing the diverse practices amongst the various States and High Courts while also ensuring that the Draft Rules are compliant with the CrPC. It is pertinent to note however that the Colloquium was not attended by any representative from states like UP, Bihar, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, etc. covering wide area of landmass and possessing substantial amount of population. The participating High Courts included the Calcutta High Court, Delhi High Court, High Court of Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand High Court, Kerala High Court, High Court of Madras, Meghalaya High Court and High Court of Punjab & Haryana. Inter alia, the Colloquium was also attended by representatives from Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tamil Nadu and by representatives from Police Departments of Jharkhand, Punjab and Tamil Nadu. Draft Rules Moving on, the Draft Rules were submitted before the Supreme Court on March 5, 2020. They are spread across 5 Chapters containing detailed suggestions under 19 heads. The same have been reproduced concisely below: Chapter I: Investigation Body Sketch to accompany medico legal certificate, post mortem and inquest report Every Medico Legal Certificate, Post Morton Report shall contain a printed format of the human body (both frontal and rear view) on its reverse and injuries, if any, shall be indicated on such sketch. Photographs and video graphs of post mortem in certain cases In case of custodial deaths, the IO shall inform the hospital to arrange for photographs or videography for conducting the post-mortem examination of the deecased. Such photographs or videography shall be done either by a police photographer or a State nominated photographer, or by an independent private photographer in the absence of the former two. Such photographs or videography shall be seized under a panchnama or seizure memo, for proof during Trial accompanied by certificate under Section 65B of the Evidence Act. Scene Mahazar/ Spot Panchnama A site plan shall be prepared by the IO by hand, indicating specified details, and it shall be appended to the spot panchnama. The same shall be followed by preparation of a 'scaled site plan' by the police draftsman and all the relevant details shall be marked in the panchnama and corrected in the site plan. Supply of documents under Section 173, 207 and 208 CrPC Every accused shall be supplied with statements of witness recorded under Sections 161 and 164 of CrPC and a list of documents, material objects and exhibits seized during investigation and relied upon by the IO. Pertinently, the list of statements, documents, material objects and exhibits shall also specify the statements, documents, material objects and exhibits that are not relied upon by the IO. Chapter II: Charge The order framing charge shall be accompanied by a formal charge in Form 32, Schedule II, CrPC to be prepared personally by the Presiding Officer after complete and total application of mind. Chapter III: Trial Procedure for Recording Evidence The deposition of witnesses shall be recorded in typed format in both the language of the witness as well as in English and will be read over by the Presiding Officer without any...

Criminal Law Reforms: Amicus Curiae Submits Draft 'Criminal Rules Of Practice' Before SC [Read Report]

Akshita Saxena

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