NDLI: Chandra Pratap Singh Vs. State of M.p

Content Provider	Supreme Court of India
e-ISSN	30484839
Language	English
Access Restriction	NDLI
Subject Keyword	Murder Penal Code
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Law Judgement
Jurisdiction	India
Case(s) Referred	Referred Case 0 Referred Case 1
Case Type	Appeal
Court	Supreme Court of India
Disposal Nature	Appeal Allowed
Headnote	Issue for consideration:Whether the High Court was justified in altering the charge u/s.302 read with ss. 148 and/or 149 to a charge u/s. 302/34 IPC, andconvicting and sentencing the appellant for the offence punishableu/s 302/34 and u/s. 201 IPC.Penal Code, 1860 – ss. 302 rw s. 34, 201 – Murder – Commonintention – Causing disappearance of evidence of offence,or giving false information to screen offender – Convictionof accused persons for the offence punishable u/s. 302 rwss. 148 and 149 and s. 201 and sentenced accordingly, forcommitting triple murder – High Court acquitted three of themand as regards remaining substituted their conviction with s.302/34, while maintaining conviction u/s. 201Held: Grave prejudice caused to the appellant by altering thecharge u/s. 302 read with ss. 148 and/or 149 to a charge u/s.302/34 without giving any notice to the appellant or his advocateabout the charge – No reason recorded in the impugned judgmentto show that s.34 was applicable – No finding recorded that therewas sufficient evidence to prove that the four accused who wereultimately convicted had done the criminal act in furtherance ofa common intention – On perusal of the evidence of prosecutionwitness, there was no evidence of the presence of commonintention which is the necessary ingredient of s. 34 – Only the actof stopping the deceased would not, by itself, bring the case withinthe purview of s.34 – No overt act attributed to the appellant by anyprosecution witness in the assault on the deceased – It is difficultto infer a prior meeting of minds – There is no overlap betweencommon object and common intention – However, the evidence ofeyewitnesses very consistent on the role played by the appellantin dragging the dead body of the deceased and throwing thesame into a well – Thus, there is every justification for convictingthe appellant for the offence punishable u/s. 201 of causingthe disappearance of the evidence of the crime – Appellant’sconviction u/s. 302/ 34 set aside, however, the conviction forthe offence punishable u/s. 201 is confirmed – Appellant havingalready undergone the sentence, the bail bonds are cancelled.[Para 13-16, 18-20]Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 – s. 386 rw s. 216 – Appealagainst conviction – Power of court to alter or add the charge– Notice of the charge proposed to be altered or added tothe accused – Necessity of:Held: In view of the wide powers conferred by s. 386 Cr.PC,an Appellate Court can exercise the power u/s. 216 of alteringor adding the charge – Principles of natural justice require theappellate court to put the accused to the notice of the chargeproposed to be altered or added when prejudice is likely to becaused to the accused by alteration or addition of charges –Unless the accused is put to notice that the appellate court intendsto alter or add a charge in a particular manner, his advocatecannot effectively argue the case – Court can give the notice ofthe proposed alteration or addition of the charge even by orallyinforming the accused or his advocate when the appeal is beingheard – Court can grant a short time to the advocates for bothsides to prepare themselves for addressing the Court on thealtered or added charge. [Para 12]
Judge	Hon'ble Mr. Justice Abhay.S. Oka
Neutral Citation	2023 INSC 887
Petitioner	Chandra Pratap Singh
Respondent	State Of M.p
SCR	[2023] 13 S.C.R. 761
Judgement Date	2023-10-09
Case Number	1209

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