When there is even no recorded confession of the co-accused except the disclosure statement the criminal proceedings cannot be continued against him: High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh
It is of the considered opinion that there is no material on record that necessitates the continuance of the criminal proceedings against the petitioner when there is even no recorded confession of the co-accused except the disclosure statement as upheld by the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh through the learned bench led by Justice Rajnesh Oswal in the case of Sandeep Kumar Vs State of J&K (Bail App No. 253/2021 [CrlM No. 1515/2021])
The brief facts of the case are that the petitioner through the medium of the present petition under section 561-A Cr.P.C. (now 482 Cr.P.C.) has prayed for quashing of the criminal proceedings titled “State versus Ghulam Mohammed & Anr”, those are pending against him before the Court of learned Principal Sessions Judge, Kishtwar (hereinafter to be referred as trial court) arising out of FIR bearing No. 13 of 2013 for commission of offences under sections 295, 457, 380, RPC. The petitioner has sought the quashing of the criminal proceedings primarily on the grounds that the evidence relied upon by the prosecution is legally inadmissible because as per the prosecution case the accused No. 1 in the case i.e., Ghulam Mohd made an admission/confession of the guilt before them, where he stated that the petitioner herein was also an accomplice in that act and in law, no confession is admissible, if the same is made not only to Police Officer but even if it is made in presence of Police Officer. Further the proceedings those are pending against him do not disclose commission of any offence by the petitioner, as such, the proceedings are nothing but an abuse of process of law.
After the perusal of facts and arguments, the Hon’ble Court held, “ In the instant case, there is even no recorded confession of the co-accused except the disclosure statement as mentioned above. So, this Court is of the considered opinion that there is no material on record that necessitates the continuance of the criminal proceedings against the petitioner. In view of this, the present petition is allowed and the criminal proceedings titled “State versus Ghulam Mohammed & Anr” pending before the court of learned Principal Sessions Judge, Kishtwar are quashed qua the petitioner only and the proceedings against the Ghulam Mohd shall continue. Since the petition has been allowed and the charge-sheet filed against the petitioner before the trial court has been quashed, therefore, the application has been rendered infructuous.”
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Judgment reviewed by Vandana Ragwani