An Outline of the Stages in Various Criminal Trials

The Code of Criminal Procedure speaks of the stages in different types of trials viz. Sessions Trials, Warrant Trials whether or not instituted on police reports, Summons Trials, and Summary Trials. The numbers in the table below refer to Section numbers in the Code.


I Sessions Trials

1) 225: Trial by a public prosecutor

2) 226: Opening statement by the prosecution

3) 227: Discharge

4) 228: Framing of charges

5) 229: Conviction on guilty plea

6) 230: Date for prosecution evidence

7) 231: Recording prosecution evidence

8) 232: Acquittal

9) 233: Defence evidence

10) 234: Arguments

11) 235: Judgment i.e. acquittal or conviction

12) 236: Previous conviction

13) 237: Procedure in cases initiated u/s 199(2)


II Warrant Trials

Instituted on a Police Report Not instituted on a Police Report
1) 238: Documents u/s 207 must be given to the accused 2) 239: Discharge

3) 240: Framing of charges

4) 241: Conviction on guilty plea

5) 242: Prosecution evidence

6) 243: Defence evidence

7) Arguments

8) 248: Judgment

1) 244: Recording prosecution evidence 2) 245: Discharge

3) 246: Procedure if there is no discharge i.e. framing charges / plea / conviction

4) Arguments

5) 248: Judgment

6) 249: If the complainant remains absent

7) 250: Compensation for vexatious complaints


III Summons Trials

1) 251: Substance of the accusation to be stated

2) 252: Conviction on guilty plea in person

3) 253: Conviction on guilty plea in the absence of the accused when he send the fine

4) 254: Hearing the prosecution; summoning witnesses

5) 255: Judgment i.e. acquittal or conviction

6) 256: Non-appearance of the complainant

7) 257: Withdrawal of the complaint

8)258: Stopping the proceedings

9) 259: Conversion of a summons case into a warrant case


IV Summary Trials

1) 260: CJM, MM and JMFC may try certain offences summararily

2) 261: The HC mat confer power on a JMSC if the punishment is only fine or is less than six months with/without fine

3) 262: No imprisonment under this chapter for more than three months same procedure as summons trials may be adopted

4) 263: Record of the trial as directed by the State Government

5) 264: Magistrate records the substance of evidence and judgment with reasons if no guilty plea

6) 265: Language of record; CJM may authorize another person to prepare the record

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>