Dr.

Ram Manohar Lohiya National Law University, Lucknow

Session 2014-15

Synopsis The Code of Criminal Procedure

Topic Trial of Summon Cases by Magistrates

Submitted To

Submitted By

Dr. Prem Kumar Gautam

ASTHA SINGH

Assistant Professor (Law)

Dr. Ram Manohar Lohiya NLU

Roll no. - 46
V Semester

Introduction
to him and then he is asked whether he pleads guilty or has any defence to make?
The magistrate also has the power to drop the proceedings, if he is satisfied that
there is no offence for which the accused can be tried. Section 252 says that if the
accused pleads guilty, then the magistrate records the plea a nearly in words as
possible and then he may in his discretion convict the accused. Section 253 (1)
talks about when the accused receives summon under Section 206 and wants to
plead guilty without appearing before the magistrate, he may convey the same to
the magistrate in a letter of plea by post or by messenger along with the fine
mentioned in the summon. Section 253 (2) says that the magistrate has the
discretion to sentence him on the basis of his plea and to pay the fine. If the
accused has authorized any person as his pleader, then the magistrate may record
his plea as nearly as possible in the words used by him and convict the accused
based on it. Section 254 talks about that the magistrate can hear the prosecution
side as well, if he does not sentence the accused and if he wants he can summon
any person to appear before the court as a witness, but he will ensure that the
necessary expenses for appearance of the witness are deposited in the court.
Section 255 talks about if the magistrate on hearing the witnesses does not find the
accused guilty, and then he might pass the order of acquittal. Section 256 (1) says
that if on any day of the hearing, the complainant himself does not appear, then the
magistrate may acquit the accused unless he thinks fit to adjourn the hearing, but if
the pleader of the complainant is there and the magistrate thinks that his attendance
is not indispensible, then he may proceed with the case. Section 257 talks about the
acquittal of the accused, when the complainant at any time feels like withdrawing
his complaint against the accused. Section 258 says that if a proceeding has been
started otherwise than upon a complaint, the magistrate of first class or with the

previous sanction of the Chief Judicial Magistrate may stop the proceeding at any
time without pronouncing judgment, for reasons to be recorded by him. If the
evidence of the principal witness has been taken, then the judgment of acquittal
should be passed and to the contrary, release the accused and such release shall
have the effect of discharge. Section 259 deals with the situation, where the
imprisonment mentioned is for more than six months, and the magistrate thinks
that the trial should be in accordance with the procedure as mentioned for that of
the warrant- cases, he may re-hear the case in the manner prescribed in this code
for the trial of warrant- cases and may recall any witness who may have been
examined earlier also. Thus, the entire procedure of the trail of summon cases by
the magistrate will be dealt with in detail in the project.

CASES
1. State of Gujarat v. Lalit Mohan, 1990 Cr LJ 2341, 2345 (Guj).
2. Gopal Krishna Saha v. Matilal Singh, (1926) 54 Cal 359.
3. Subramanium Sethuraman v. State of Maharashtra, 2005 SCC (Cri) 242.
4. Kannan v. State, 1989, Mad LW(Crl) 410.
5. Manbodh Biswal v. Samaru Pradhan, 1980 Cr LJ 1023 (Ori).
6. Emperor v. Somabhai, (1907) 9 Bom LR 1346.
7. Mahant Kaushalya Das v. State of Madras, AIR 1966 SC 22.
8. B. Rajanna v. State of Karnataka, 1996 Cr LJ 1820 (Kant).
9. In re Selvi, 1975 Cr LJ 113 (Mad).
10.State of Gujarat v. Lalit Mohan, 1990 Cr LJ 241, 2350 (Guj).

11. Public Prosecutor v. Hindustan Motors, AIR 1970 AP 176.

Bibliography
1. Ratanlal and Dhirajlal; The Code of Criminal Procedure, 19th Ed., Lexis
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

Nexis Butterworths Wadhwa Nagpur

Batuk lal; Commentary at the Code of CriminalProcedure 1973.
S.C.Sarkar; Law of Criminal Procedure
Jethmalani, Ram and Chopra, D. S.; Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.
R.V.KELKARS Criminal procedure; K.N.Chandrasekharan Pillai
K.D.Gaur; Criminal Law: cases and materials
Code of Criminal Procedure 1973; Paranjape N.V.
Black's Law Lexicon