No summons to be issued against man as accused after sentence: Supreme Court

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has said no summons can be issued against a person as an accused in a criminal case after pronouncement of the sentence with regard to other accused and acquitting some others.

A bench of Justices B R Gavai and K Vishwanathan allowed the appeal by Devendra Kumar Pal and set aside the Allahabad High Court judgment and quashed the order summoning the appellant under Section 319 CrPC.

The appellant contended after the proceedings in a murder case, the trial judge convicted some of the accused and acquitted the others.

The trial judge opined the present appellant was also required to be tried.

In an order of March 21, 2012, the trial judge in the first half recorded the order of conviction in respect of the accused whom it had found to be guilty and also recorded the order of acquittal for the remaining accused, it found to be not guilty.

Post lunch session, the trial judge first recorded the order of sentence insofar as the accused who were convicted. Thereafter, the trial judge had passed an order summoning the present appellant, Pal for trial by invoking powers under Section 319 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.

Referring to Sukhpal Singh Khaira Vs State of Punjab (2023), his counsel submitted in the case first the order of conviction and sentence was recorded and only thereafter an order under Section 319 of CrPC was passed, which would not be sustainable in law.

The state government counsel, however, opposed the plea, saying the Constitution bench in Sukhpal Singh Khaira has held that if the judgment of the conviction and sentence and the order of summoning under Section 319 of CrPC are passed on the same date, the court may have to examine the facts and circumstances of the case.

The bench also pointed in Sukhpal Singh Khaira it has been held that if such a summoning order is passed, either after the order of acquittal or imposing of sentence in the conviction, it may not be sustainable.

"Sitting in a two-judge combination, we are bound by the law laid down by the Constitution bench of this court," the bench said.

The court noted indisputably, in the case, on March 21, 2012, the order of conviction in the case of some of the accused and the order of acquittal in the case of the other accused was passed in the first half of the day. In the second half, the court first passed an order for sentencing of the persons who were convicted and only thereafter passed an order under Section 319 of CrPC for summoning the present appellant.