On 13th April 2021, Tuesday the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the instant matter observed that “defense on merits is not to be considered at the stage of framing of the charge and/or at the stage of discharge application”.
Additionally, the Hon’ble bench in the instant matter also said that “at the stage of framing of the charge and/or considering the discharge application, the mini-trial is not permissible”.
Further, the Hon’ble Special Court while considering the material on record which included the transcript of conversation recorded between the complainant and the accused and given the other material on record discovered that there is a prima facie case made out.
Furthermore, the Hon’ble court while considering the material on record added that the defense of the accused is not to be considered at this stage, and framing of the charge against the accused of the offense under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.
At the outset, the Hon’ble Rajasthan HC, while allowing a revision petition, discharged the accused of the alleged offense under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.
In the due course, in an appeal filed before the Hon’ble SC, it was alleged that the Hon’ble HC has committed a grave error in evaluating the transcript/evidence on merits which at the stage of considering the application for discharge is not permissible.
In continuation, the Hon’ble bench also stated that while discharging the accused, the Hon’ble HC has gone into the merits of the case and has considered whether based on the material on record, the accused is likely to be convicted or not. Besides this, the Hon’ble bench also mentioned that the Hon’ble HC has considered the transcript of the conversation between the complainant and the accused in detail.
Subsequently, the Hon’ble bench while passing the order held that at this stage to consider the discharge application and/or framing of the charge is not permissible at all.
Lastly while upholding the Hon’ble Special Court order of framing charges against the accused the Hon’ble SC bench observed that “the Hon’ble HC was required to consider whether a prima facie case has been made out or not and whether the accused is required to be further tried or not.
To finish, the Hon’ble bench while passing the order also stated that the Hon’ble court is “not entering into the merits of the case and/or merits of the transcript as the same is required to be considered at the time of trial and defence on merits is not to be considered at the stage of framing of the charge and/or at the stage of discharge application.”
Case: State of Rajasthan versus. Ashok Kumar Kashyap [CrA 407 OF 2021]
Citation: LL 2021 SC 210
Coram: Justices DY Chandrachud and MR Shah
Counsel: Adv Vishal Meghwal
