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Cross-cases or counter-cases are two different of the same incident, resulting in two criminal cases. Therefore, they should be tried by the same court to avoid technical and other difficulties arising out of the order of one. Such an observation was made by the Hon’ble Allahabad High Court before Hon’ble Justice Gautam Chowdhary in the matter of  Pradeep Kumar Dubey vs State Of U.P. & Anr [APPLICATION U/S 482 No. – 20241 of 2021].

The facts of the case were that some dispute arose between the parties in respect of house for which litigation is pending before the civil court. Meanwhile, some quarrel took place between the parties in which both sides incurred injuries, and one Ajay Kumar Alias Kallu died. Thus, cross-version of the same incident was filed under section 156(3) were filed.

The Hon’ble High Court took into view the judgment held in Nathi Lal Vs. State of Uttar Pradesh 1990 SCC (Cri) 638 by the Hon’ble Supreme Court and said that when two criminal cases relating to the same incident are in play, then they both are tried and disposed of by the same court. Additionally, the Hon’ble High court observed that “We are unable to understand why the legislature is still parrying to incorporate such a salubrious practice as a statutory requirement in the Code. The practical reasons for adopting a procedure that such cross cases shall be tried by the same court can be summarised thus (1) It staves off the danger of an accused being convicted before his whole case is before the court. (2) It deters conflicting judgments being delivered upon similar facts. (3) In reality the case and the counter-case, to all intents and purposes, different or conflicting versions of one incident.”

Finally, the Hon’ble High Court allowed the appeal and directed the concerned session court to try and dispose of the cases in the manner set out in the Nathi lal case(Supra) by the Hon’ble Supreme Court.

Click Here To Read The Judgment

Reviewed by: Rohan Kumar Thakur