Hello Friends, let’s go to understand deeply the Scope Of Sec 311 Crpc.
311 deal’s with the power to summon material witnesses or examine a person present. According to Scope Of Sec 311 Crpc .
Any court may, at any stage of any inquiry, trial, or another proceeding under this code, summon any person as a witness or examine any person in attendance though not summoned as a witness or recall and re-examine any person already examined; and the court shall summon and examine or recall and re-examine any such person if his evidence appears to it to be essential to the just decision of the case, the provision reads.
V.N. Patil Vs. K. Niranjan Kumar –
During the trial, as per the record and evidence, an examination of all the relative witnesses and the documentary evidence produced by the investigating officer indicates that the second post-mortem on the victim’s body was conducted. After the prosecution witness PW 27 Dr. Bgeemappa Havanur, who conducted the first autopsy on the dead body of the deceased, was declared hostile. Therefore request was made to summon the doctor who conducted a second autopsy.
Supreme Court –
The judgment was delivered by a bench comprising justices Indu Malhotra and Ajay Rastogi while allowing an order of the Trial court allowing the application filed by the prosecution for summoning the witnesses along with securing the relevant records. The Apex court bench observed that the object underlying section 311 Crpc is that there may not be a failure of justice on account of the mistake of either party in bringing the valuable evidence on record or leaving ambiguity in the statements of the witnesses examined from either side.
State Vs. TrN Seenivasagan –
The respondent was a chief Engineer in the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Company Limited. It is alleged that he demanded a bribe for revoking the suspension of an employee. The case was posted for the final submissions of the prosecution on 27 Feb. 2018 and appears to have been adjourned on thirty-three occasions until 26 Oct. 2018. In the meantime, the presiding officer was transferred on 25 June 2018, as a result of which the argument could not be finally concluded. Even after 26 Oct. 2018, the case was adjourned on thirty-five occasions, following which it was posted on 11 March 2019 for the prosecution to submit its written arguments. However, on 11 Feb. 2019, the prosecution filed under section 311 of Crpc for recalling PWs 1 and 11, to enable the appellant to mark them as an exhibit in evidence.
Supreme Court –
In this case, the bench comprising justices DY Chandeachud and MR Shah observed that the true test for invoking section 311 Crpc is whether it appears to the court that the evidence of a such person who is sought to be recalled is essential to the just decision of the case. In this case, the state had approached the Apex court against the reduction of the application filed by it seeking the recalling of witnesses. In explaining the delay in filing the applications, the prosecution noted that it was due to the transfer of a special public prosecutor who was conducting the case.
