Ans. History
of Law of Procedure in Criminal Courts - Previous to 1882 there was no
uniform law of Criminal procedure for the whole of India. There were separate
Acts, mostly rudimentary in their character, to guide the procedure of numerous
courts in provinces and in the Presidency-towns. These Acts of procedure were
replaced by Act X of 1882 which was Code of Criminal Procedure 1882 (Act X)
which gave for the first time a uniform law of procedure for whole of India and
it was supplanted by a new Code in 1898.
The
Code of Criminal Procedure 1898 underwent drastic amendments at the hands of
legislature in 1923 and since 1923 changes were made from time to time by minor
Amendment Acts.
The
Code again underwent drastic amendments in 1955 by Code of Criminal Procedure
(Amendment) Act 26 of 1955. Schemes for the separation of judicial and
executive functions of Magistrate were introduced by State legislatures from
time to time and the Code was amended accordingly.
There
was a constant demand for the revision of the Code partly to simplify the
procedure and partly to introduce a uniform system in the country in relation
to Judicial and Executive functions of Magistrates. The Law Commission
therefore submitted a revised draft for the Code in its 13th report and
thereafter it had undergone some changes in the hands of the joint select
committee of the Parliament, and was passed into present form in 1973
Important
Changes to Act 2 of 1974 : Following changes were
brought about with a view to speeding up the disposal of Criminal Cases:-
(i) The
preliminary inquiry which precedes the trial by Court of Session, known as
"Committal proceedings" was abolished.
(ii) the scope of
summary trials was widened by including offences punishable with imprisonment
upto one year instead of six months.
(iii) the power of
revision against "interlocutory orders" was taken away.
(iv) the
provisions for compulsory stoppage of proceedings by subordinate court on mere
intimation from a party of his intention to move a higher court for transfer of
the case was omitted.
(v) Provision was
made for service of summons by registered post in certain cases.
(vi) Provisions
for legal aid to indigent persons were made.
(vii) Courts have
been empowered to order for payment of compensation by accused to victims of
crime
Scope
and Object of Code The object of the Criminal Procedure Code is
to provide a machinery for the punishment of offenders against the sub stantive
criminal law. It prescribes the procedure for the trial of offences which the
Indian Penal Code defines. Section 4 of this Code provides that all offences
under the Code shall be investigated, enquired into, tried and otherwise dealt
with according to the provisions of this Code. It also provides that offences
under a law other that the Indian Penal Code will also be tried according to
the provisions of the Procedure Code, but subject to any provision in that
other law in regard to investigation, inquiry or trial [Section 4(2)]. The Penal
Code is thus the substantive law, of which the Procedure Code furnishes the
adjective law to put in force its provisions. The Code is a code of procedure
and, like all procedural laws, is designed to further the ends of justice and
not to frustrate them by the introduction of endless technicalities. The object
of the Code is to ensure that an accused person gets a full and fair trial
along certain well-established and well-understood lines in accord with our
notions of natural justice.
In Wilie
Staney v. State of M.P., AIR 1956 SC 116, it was observed "The
object of code is to ensure that accused person gets full and fair trial along
certain well-established and well-understood lines that accord with our notions
of natural justice, under the code as in all procedural laws, certain things
are regarded as vital. Disregard of provisions of that nature is fatal to trial
and at once invalidates the conviction. Other are not vital and what ever the
irregularity, they can be cured. Chapter 45 of the code has carefully
classified certain kinds of errors and expressly indicates how they are to be
dealt with.
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