Courts ackowledge the evil of Perjury

This post has connection to the post about Counter Cases possible in case of false criminal cases against one(whether the cases against you are still going on, or decided).

*********************Supreme Court Judgement about Perjury in a Rape case**************

REPORTABLE

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA

CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION

SPECIAL LEAVE PETITION (CRL.) NOS. OF 2008
(CRIMINAL MISC. PETITION NOS.8515-8516 OF 2008)



Mahila Vinod Kumar i .....

Petitioner

Versus

State of Madhya Pradesh .....Respondent

JUDGMENT

Dr. ARIJIT PASAYAT, J.



1. Heard learned counsel for the petitioner.

2. Delay condoned.

3. Though, we are not inclined to entertain the special leave petitions, but we find that there is a need for expressing views on action to be taken for maliciously setting law into motion.

4. The petitioner lodged a report against two persons at Pichhore Police Station to the effect that on 28.1.1993 between 6.00 to 7.00 a.m. she was waylaid by them who dragged her and committed rape on her, one after another. She claimed to have narrated the incident to her father and uncle and, thereafter lodged the report at the police station. On the basis of the report, matter was investigated. The accused persons were arrested. Charge-sheet was filed. The accused persons faced trial for alleged commission of offence punishable under Section 376(2)(g) of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (in short `the IPC'). The accused persons abjured their guilt. During trial, the petitioner stated that she had actually not been raped. As she resiled from the statement made during investigation, she was permitted to be cross-examined by the prosecution. She even denied to have lodged the first information report (Exh.P-1) and to have given any statement to the police (Exh.P-2). In view of the statement of the petitioner, the two accused persons were acquitted by judgment dated 28.11.2001. The Trial Court found that the petitioner had tendered false evidence and had fabricated evidence against the accused persons with the intention that
such evidence shall be used in the proceedings, and, therefore, directed cognizance in terms of Section 344 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (in short `the Code') to be taken against the petitioner. A show-cause notice was issued and the case was registered against the petitioner who filed reply to the effect that being an illiterate lady, she had committed the mistake and may be excused. The Trial Court found that the petitioner admitted her guilt that she had lodged false report of rape against the accused. She was, accordingly, sentenced to undergo three months' simple imprisonment. Aggrieved by the order, the petitioner filed an appeal before the Madhya Pradesh High Court, which, by the impugned order, was dismissed.



5. Stand before the High Court was that being an illiterate

lady, she does not understand law and the particulars of the

offence were not explained to her and, therefore, the appeal

should be allowed. This was opposed by the State on the

ground that the petitioner had admitted her guilt before the

Trial Court and, therefore, the conviction is well founded. The

High Court perused the records of the Trial Court and found

that in the show-cause reply she had admitted that she had

told lies all through. The stand that the particulars of the

offence were not explained to her, was found to be equally

untenable, because in the show-cause notice issued, relevant

details were given. In the first information report, and the

statement recorded by the police, she had clearly stated that

she was raped by the accused persons. But in Court she

denied to have stated so. Learned counsel for the petitioner

submitted that the Court imposed 15 days' simple

imprisonment which is harsh. But that is not the end of the

matter. The petitioner filed an application before the High

Court stating that a wrong statement was made before the

High Court that she had already suffered custody for 15 days,

which weighed with the High Court to reduce the sentence.



6. Learned counsel for the petitioner stated that being a girl

of tender age, she was pressurized by her mother and uncle to


give a false report. This is at variance with the statement

made in court during trial to the effect that she had not

reported anything to the police. It is a settled position in law

that so far as sexual offences are concerned, sanctity is

attached to the statement of a victim. This Court, has, in

several cases, held that the evidence of the prosecutrix alone

is sufficient for the purpose of conviction if it is found to be

reliable, cogent and credible. In the present case, on the basis

of the allegations made by the petitioner, two persons were

arrested and had to face trial and suffered the ignominy of

being involved in a serious offence like rape. Their acquittal,

may, to a certain extent, have washed away the stigma, but

that is not enough. The purpose of enacting Section 344,

Cr.P.C. corresponding to Section 479-A of the Code of

Criminal Procedure, 1898 (hereinafter referred to as `the Old

Code') appears to be further arm the Court with a weapon to

deal with more flagrant cases and not to take away the

weapon already in its possession. The object of the legislature

underlying enactment of the provision is that the evil of

perjury and fabrication of evidence has to be eradicated and

can be better achieved now as it is open to the courts to take

recourse to Section 340(1) (corresponding to Section 476 of

the Old Code) in cases in which they are failed to take action

under Section 344 Cr.P.C.



7. This section introduces an additional alternative

procedure to punish perjury by the very Court before which it

is committed in place of old Section 479 A which did not have

the desired effect to eradicate the evils of perjury. The salient

features of this new provision are:

(1) Special powers have been conferred on two specified

Courts, namely Court of Session and Magistrate of the

First Class, to take cognizance of an offence of perjury

committed by a witness in a proceeding before it instead

of filing a complaint before a Magistrate and try and

punish the offender by following the procedure of

summary trials. For summary trial, see Ch. 21.



(2) This power is to be exercised after having the matter

considered by the Court only at the time of delivery of the

judgment or final order.

(3) The offender shall be given a reasonable opportunity of

showing cause before he is punished.

(4) The maximum sentence that may be imposed is 3

month's imprisonment or a fine up to Rs.500 or both.

(5) The order of the Court is appealable (vide S. 351).

(6) The procedure in this section is an alternative to one

under Sections 340-343. The Court has been given an

option to proceed to punish summarily under this

section or to resort to ordinary procedure by way of

complaint under Section 340 so that, as for instance,

where the Court is of opinion that perjury committed is

likely to raise complicated questions or deserves more

severe punishment than that permitted under this

section or the case is otherwise of such a nature or for

some reasons considered to be such that the case should

be disposed of under the ordinary procedure which
would be more appropriate, the Court may chose to do so

[vide sub-section (3)].

(7) Further proceedings of any trial initiated under this

section shall be stayed and thus, any sentence imposed

shall also not be executed until the disposal of an appeal

or revision against the judgment or order in the main

proceedings in which the witness gave perjured evidence

or fabricated false evidence [vide sub-section (4)].




8. For exercising the powers under the section the Court at

the time of delivery of judgment or final order must at the first

instance express an opinion to the effect that the witness

before it has either intentionally given false evidence or

fabricated such evidence. The second condition is that the

Court must come to the conclusion that in the interests of

justice the witness concerned should be punished summarily

by it for the offence which appears to have been committed by

the witness. And the third condition is that
before

commencing the summary trial for punishment the witness

must be given reasonable opportunity of showing cause why

he should not be so punished. All these conditions arc

mandatory. [See Narayanswamy v. State of Muharashtra,

(1971) 2 SCC 182].



9. The object of the provision is to deal with the evil perjury

in a summary way.



10. The evil of perjury has assumed alarming propositions in

cases depending on oral evidence and in order to deal with the

menace effectively it is desirable for the courts to use the

provision more effectively and frequently than it is presently

done.



11. In the case at hand, the court has rightly taken action

and we find nothing infirm in the order of the Trial Court and

the High Court to warrant interference. The special leave

petitions are, accordingly dismissed.





................................J.
(Dr. ARIJIT PASAYAT)



................................J.
(P. SATHASIVAM)
New Delhi:
July 11, 2008

Counter cases during and after the case against one

And here comes the mother of all 'Cracks' for this bar of 195 Cr.PC , see below the links for the landmark judgement of Marwah Vs Marwah(Citation 2005 (4) SCC 370), I have used this in my counter cases(under sections 209, 211, 195, 197, 460, 463, and whatnot, even I lost count). Download this judgement here.

See a post explaining all this: http://bok498a.blogspot.com/2007/05/arrive-with-guns-blazing-counters-quash.html , actually sit and read the whole blog as I suggested initially :), it will serve u good, take my word on it. See my case details and the killer thoughts behind planning a counter-offensive(our military bretheren must be keen on knowing these counter-surveilance mode thoughts) at http://f1.grp.yahoofs.com/v1/wPl1SANrqCIhMSTl0U7w520JpBhhfMhdPUY1lvs3qyneu0J04Xsc7h2Aox4lpxErTKuroEt2HHsw2lfDZTUAAw/Counter%20Charge%20498a.pdf (also attached, this is an ealrier version so it has some factual errors, like the explanation of Cr.PC 340, is wrongly refering to that of IPC 340, will correct it soon and re-upload/blog for posterity)

For Dowry Prohibition section, 3(giving dowry being punishable) please see the following links


Nyayayodha's blog

Following is the link for section for tortured husbands(needs you to register in this site and be logged in) :-

http://www.ghrs.in/index.php?option=com_content&task=category&sectionid=21&id=35&Itemid=117

Following is the link to Sample DP3 application :

http://www.ghrs.in/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=95&Itemid=154

******
Hi Gokul ji,

I was just reading CrPC-Section 195 and it says that

"No court shall take cognizance - Of any offence punishable under any of the following sections of the Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860), namely, sections 193 to 196 (both inclusive), 199, 200, 205 to 211 (both inclusive) and 228, when such offence is alleged to have been committed in, or in relation to, any proceeding in any court"

Thanks & Regards
Jaspreet Singh

On 7/10/08, Gokul P.R wrote:
I am mentioning below some IPC sections which can be generally used to file cases against the wife's side. The is RIPE NOW, GO FOR IT. When u r planning for counter offenses, read the posts in http://bok498a.blogspot.com/ which gives u pragmatic insights to dealing with court system, advocates and the Police, theory may not work, but insights coupled with consultations will.

S.191 :Giving false evidence+ S.340(1) of CrPC for Perjury @ Family/Magistrate Court
matter
S.209 : Dishonest claim
S.211 : False charge of offence made with intent to injure
S.306 : Abetment of Suicide
S.361 : For child - Kidnapping from lawful guardianship
S.378,380,381,382 :Theft
S.383 : Extortion
S.402 : Dacoity (Cognisable, Non-bailable and Non-compundable- just like 498a :)
S.406 : Criminal Breach of Trust
S.463 : Forgery
S.499: Defamation
S.506&507: Criminal Intimidation
Sections which u can check with ur advocate(I dont remember the IPC section offhand for these crimes) - Threatening, Abbetment of crime, these may be referring to a period before even your wife filed cases against you.

Some other sections of IPC helpful for husband side:
182 False information, with intent to cause public servant to use his lawful power to the injury of another person
191 Giving false evidence
192 Fabricating false evidence
195A Threatening any person to
give false evidence
196 Using evidence known to be false
197 Issuing or signing false certificate
198 Using as true a certificate known to be false
199 False statement made in declaration which is by law
receivable as evidence
200 Using as true such declaration knowing it to be false
201 Causing disappearance of evidence of offence, or
giving false information to screen offender
202 Intentional omission to give information of offence by person bound to inform
203 Giving false information respecting an offence commited
204 destruction of document to prevent its production as evidence
205 False personation for purpose of act or proceeding in suit or prosecution there are
more


Regards
Gokul

Buddy Aa wrote: Hello All,

i am working in Indian Army and my brother has been harassed by 498a .

After getting b-report/final report in the charge sheet can put
counter cases like miss use of 498a ...?

1. Is this right time (after B-Report) to put counter cases of miss
use of 498a? or its too late now ?

2. Defamation case ?

3.182 IPC ?

Please list all the counter cases for 498a and relevent cases .

Also I would like to know all these counter cases are civil/criminal ?
Please give me some more details how register all these cases and
what needs to prepared ,i don't want to put any false cases and then put myself in trouble......if any one has done this please share
experiences. .....etc

I don't want to teach a lesson to 498a wife, I would like to seek for
justice and fair for my brother who have been legally terrorised by 498a
and 498a wife.....Etc

Please send me the quite capable with very good reputation advocate in Hyderabad.

Please help

regards,
Buddy

Post-498a- Getting a fair investigation done!

To get police to do a fair investigation is a very crucial step to have a chance of getting a B-report(clean chit) from the police(like in Prashant's case: http://ipc498a.wordpress.com/2008/06/07/investigative-excellence-the-closing-of-the-498a-case-against-actor-prashant ).

Do not think its rare so unworthy trying for, only if more and more people pursue and attain this, will the system as a whole get cleansed. So try it with all your might, if not a B-report the chargesheet will be full of investigative points favourable to you, which is good enough to get clean in court and then book the law miusers in court.

But approaching HC for getting fair investigation alone could be avoided if people are aware of some effective alternatives which were discussed in this forum some time back. The discussions earlier were about submitting evidences and investigation points(possible witnesses, facts, etc., which if investigated will be in favour of the accused) from the accused side.

The accused have to submit these evidences, etc. to the investigation officer(Copy to higher police officials, to keep up the pressure and to ensure a supervised process) and get an ackowledgement copy of these submissions.

The judgement mentioned in the post below(of Madhya Pradesh High Court about evidences provided by accused has to be incorporated in the chargesheet/final report the police submits to the court)also should be cited along with the evidences submitted by the accused for additonal pressure on the police to comply and do a fair investigation.

If and when the chargesheet is submitted to the court without incorporating the findings of such investigations(As pointed out by the submissions of accused), the accused should point out this descrepancy to the court/higher police officials and the court/higher police officials in turn can order the police to further investigate in the line of the submitted facts/investigation points by accused.

This procedure is desirable than a long drawn 482 proceeding(for just getting a fair investigation done) , which should be attempted only as a last refuge(after doing the above said procedures).

This should be our next action point since pre-498a scenario is now controllable with the delhi/hyderabad police circulars and the latest chennai HC guidelines(http://at498a.blogspot.com/2008/04/arrest-guidelines-in-case-of.html)

Now we have to find that judgement, so that it can be attached to the submissions which an accused can give the police station, higher-ups, courts etc.

Lets make this system water tight from all sides possible.

The next step is to get the courts to conduct cases in a timely and effective manner, some study of the court system(processes involved : cradle to grave of a any case) is needed. After which we can volunteer as NGOs for implementing the findings of the study( to make the system and its processes optimum and effective). We had thought of video conferencing and confirmation of date by mobile/sms etc as some avenues of making the system effective- this is the need of the hour, since the pain after bail is of the futility and drudgery of courts!.

We need to do a System overhaul... if not we, who else?!, if not for our children... .


--- In saveindianfamily@yahoogroups.com, its your guy wrote:

Section 482 can be used for purposes more than just quashing. 482 section is a
vast section which gives immense powers to the HC and many things can be done
through this section apart from quashing.

In a Petition u/s 482 for Fair Investigation and quashing filled by accused
husband the Madhya Pradesh High Court has ordered the Police to consider all the
doccuments provided by the accussed to the Police in his defense and to make all
these doccuments a part of the challan/charge sheet even though the
challan/charge sheet was already filled by the police without these doccuments.
The doccuments provided by the husband were Photographs of happy married life,
his earlier police complaints regarding threats of false cases, telephone
conversations of his wife, and many other bills and doccuments which proved his
innocence and also disproved the allegations by the wife..

This is a landmark case and all 498A guys should approach the Police and then
the high court demanding FAIR INVESTIGATION u/s 482. Demand for justice/ fair
investigation should be put up before the Police before they File the charge
sheet.

Regards