B.A.LL.

B (Integrated Law degree course)

Code of Criminal Procedure (V Semester)

“PROJECT WORK”

“TYPES OF CRIMINAL TRIAL AND ITS PROCEDURE”

Submission To: Submitted By:

Mr. Aditya Choudhary Pranav Sharma

Faculty of Code of Criminal Procedure 17RU11018

Designation: Assistant Professor Rajat Kaushik

17RU11020

Session:-2017-2022

Semester:-V
1
Page
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I take this opportunity to express our humble gratitude and personal regards to MR. ADITYA
CHOUDHARY for inspiring me and guiding me during the course of this project work and also for
her cooperation and guidance from time to time during the course of this project work on the
topic “TYPES OF CRIMINAL TRIAL AND ITS PROCEDURE”

Date of Submission: 20-11-2019

Name of Student: Pranav Sharma

Rajat Kaushik

2
Page
INTRODUCTION-

The code of criminal procedure 1973(CrPC) is a procedural law providing the mechanism in
which manner the criminal trial is to be conducted on the basis of substantive criminal i.e. I.P.C.
and other criminal statue. The primary object of the criminal justice system is to ensure that the
trial must be fair. The presiding officer is supposed to treat the accused innocent till charge is
proved against him but at the same time the guilty person should not be escaped from the
punishment.

The word “Trial” is not defined anywhere in the Criminal Procedure Code, however, it means an
commonly understood the stage of trial began after framing the charge and end with the
conviction or acquittal. The criminal procedure for judicial adjudications is divided in 37
chapters and classified in two schedules

i. The offences classified under I.P.C.

ii. The offences classified other than I.P.C.

The nature of the trial are divided on the basis of the gravity, seriousness of the offence the
substantive law i.e. I.P.C. is divided into 37 parts by granting separate nomenclature particularly
the nature of offences like the offence against State, human body, property, public tranquility,
documents, marriage and etc.

Many a times we come across the term called criminal trial. In general parlance, we understand
trial means that a person is facing a case in court of law. But generally people are not aware of
the process of criminal trial in India. So here is the procedure for criminal trial that generally
takes place in India.

TYPES OF CRIMINAL TRIAL-

according to Criminal Procedure Code, criminal trial can be of tree types namely Trial in
Warrant cases, Trial in Summon Cases and Summery Trial

TRIAL IN WARRANT CASES-

3

Warrant cases are those cases in which an offence attracts a penalty of imprisonment for more
Page

than seven years and it includes offences punishable with death and life imprisonment. In such
cases, the trial starts either by filing of FIR or by filing a complaint before a magistrate. And if
the magistrate finds that the case relates to an offence carrying a punishment for more than two
years, the case is sent to the sessions court for trial. Section 193 of the Criminal Procedure Code
clearly states that the session court can not take cognizance of any offence unless the case has
been sent to it by a magistrate. The process of sending it to sessions court is generally called
committing it to sessions court.

IMPORTANT FEATURES OF A WARRANT CASE ARE-

• Charges must be mentioned in a warrant case

• Personal appearance of accused is mandatory
• A warrant case cannot be converted into a summons case
• The accused can examine and cross-examine the witnesses more than once.
• The magistrate should ensure that the provisions of Section 207 are .
• Section 207 of Cr. P.C. 1973, include the supply of copies such as police report, FIR,
statements recorded or any other relevant document to the accused.

The stages of trial in warrant cases are given from Section 238 to Section 250 of the Code of
Criminal Procedure, 1973.

TRAIL IN SUMMON CASES-

A summon case is a case which is not a warrant case. So in simple words, those cases in which
an offence is punishable with an imprisonment of less than two years is a summon case. In this
case, one must understand that if a magistrate, after looking into the case, thinks that a case is not
a summon case, he may convert it into a warrant case. In respect of summons cases, there is no
need to frame a charge. The court gives substance of the accusation, which is called “notice”, to
the accused when the person appears in pursuance to the summons.

IMPORTANT POINTS ABOUT SUMMONS CASE-

• A summons case can be converted into a warrant case.

4

•
Page

The person accused need not be present personally.

 • The person accused should be informed about the charges orally. No need for framing
the charges in writing.
• The accused gets only one opportunity to cross-examine the witnesses.

The different stages of criminal trial in a summon case are given from Section 251 to Section
259 of the Code of Criminal procedure.

SUMMARY TRIAL-

Case of offenses punishable with an imprisonment of not more than six months can be tried in a
summary way. It is also to be noted that if the case has been tried in a summary way, a person
can not be awarded a punishment of imprisonment for more than three months.

STAGES OF CRIMINAL TRIAL IN SUMMARY CASES-

• The procedure followed in the summary trial is similar to summons-case.

• Imprisonment up to three months can be passed.
• In the judgement of a summary trial, the judge should record the substance of the
evidence and a brief statement of the finding of the court with reasons.

PERTIAL STAGES-

i. REGISTRATION OF FIR- FIR stands for first information report which is lodged under
section 154 of the Criminal Procedure Code. The FIR is only the basis information which
is made available to the police when a cognizable offence takes place. FIR is the first
stage from which a criminal case takes the birth.
ii. INVESTIGATION- FIR in a criminal case leads to investigation in the case. Investigation
leads an investigating officer to reach to a conclusion whether a chargesheet has to be
filed or a closure report has to be filed in the case. If the investigation result in discovery
of an offence, a chargesheet is filed, otherwise a closure report is filed before the
concerned court.
iii. TRIAL- If the investigating officer finds out that a case is fit for trial then he files a
5

chargesheet in the case.

Page
iv. FILING OF THE CHARGE SHEET- The charge sheet is the brief summary of how an offence
had been committed? What was the role of each person who was involved in the crime
and the sections under which the investigating officer had charged all the accused. The
charge sheet also contains the names of the person who were investigated but could not
be charged due to lack of evidence in the eyes of the investigating agency. Filing of the
charge sheet generally means that the investigation in the case is over and now the court
has to consider the evidence collected by the investigating agency. It is to be noted, that if
during the course of trial, some new facts come to the light, the agency may file
additional charge sheets.
v. FRAMING OF CHARGES/SERVING- The Notice if it’s a summon case, a simple notice is
given and a response is sought from the accused. But in warrant cases, the court frames
the charges.
Framing of charges mean that the court looks into the evidence collected by the
investigating agency and applies its mind so as to what are the charges under which an
accused has to be booked. For example, the police has filed a chargesheet accusing a
person of murder under section 302, but the court deems it proper to charge the person
for culpable homicide not amounting to murder under section 304. At this stage, if an
accused pleads guilty then the court will apply its judicial mind and decide the
punishment accordingly. And if the accused pleads not guilty, he is informed the charges
under which he would be required to face the trial.
On the other hand, if the judge finds that no offence against an accused is made out, the
accused is discharged from the case. The court has to apply its mind and record the
reasons for discharging an accused.
vi. RECORDING OF THE PROSECUTION EVIDENCE- After the charges have been framed
against an accused, the prosecution is required to produce before the court, all the
evidence collected by the investigating agency. It is to be noted that when the
investigating agency produces the evidence before the court, the evidence has to be
supplemented with the statement of the prosecution witnesses (PWs). The process of
recording the statement of PWs is called Examination-in-Chief. The evidence which is
brought before the court and which the court considers is called “Exhibit” . The
6
Page

witnesses brought by the prosecution are expected to support the case presented by the
 prosecution and if they fail to do so, they are declared hostile and the prosecution may
request the court not to rely on the statement of such a witness. In case the witness
supports the case of the prosecution, the defense is entitled to cross examine the witness
so that they could find out the discrepancies in the statement of the witness concerned. If
the defense succeeds in finding the discrepancies in the statement of the witnesses, they
may ask the court not to rely on the statement of the said witness.
vii. STATEMENT OF THE ACCUSED- Section 313 of the Criminal Procedure code empowers
the court to ask for an explanation from the accused if any. The basic idea is to give an
opportunity of being heard to an accused an explain the facts and circumstances
appearing in the evidence against him. Under this section, an accused shall not be
administered an oath and the accused may refuse to answer the questions so asked. The
answers given by the accused may be taken into consideration in such inquiry or trial, and
put in evidence for or against him.
viii. EVIDENCE OF DEFENSE- After the statement of the accused is over, the court applies its
mind and tries to find out if the accused has committed any offence or not. If the court
reaches the conclusion that no offence has been committed by the accused, he is
acquitted. It must be noted that while acquitting an accused, the judge is expected to give
reasons for acquitting the accused.
In cases of accused not being acquitted by the court, the defense is given an opportunity
to present any defense evidence in support of the accused. The defense can also produce
its witnesses and the said witnesses are cross examined by the prosecution. In India,
generally the defense does not provide defense evidence as the criminal justice system in
India puts burden of proof on the prosecution to prove that a person is guilty of an
offence beyond the reasonable doubt.
ix. FINAL ARGUMENTS OF BOTH THE SIDES - Once the defense evidence of the accused is
over, the prosecution presents its final arguments. In final arguments, the prosecution
generally sum up its case against the accused. After the final arguments of the
prosecution are over, the defense also present its final arguments. After the final
arguments of both the sides are over, the court generally reserve its judgment.
x. DELIVERY OF JUDGMENT- After application of mind, the judge delivers a final judgment
7
Page

holding an accused guilty of offence or acquitting him of the particular offence. If a

 person is acquitted, the prosecution is given time to file an appeal and if a person is
convicted of a particular offence, then date is fixed for arguments on sentence.
xi. ARGUMENTS ON SENTENCE- Once a person is convicted of an offence, both the sides
present their arguments on what punishment should be awarded to an accused. This is
generally done in cases which are punished with death or life imprisonment.
xii. JUDGMENT WITH PUNISHMENT- After the arguments on sentence, the court finally
decides what should be the punishment for the accused. While punishing a person, the
courts consider various theories of punishment like reformative theory of punishment and
deterrent theory of punishment. Court also considers the age, background and history of
an accused and the judgment is pronounced accordingly.

8
Page
REFERENCES-
➢ https://criminaltrials.blogspot.com/2012/09/stages-of-criminal-trial.html
➢ https://www.lawyersclubindia.com/experts/Stages-in-criminal-trial-84286.asp
➢ http://www.mondaq.com/pdf/clients/318472.pdf
➢ https://www.lawfarm.in/blogs/process-of-criminal-trial-and-proceedings-in-india

9
Page