Defence of an Accused: When Does It Begin?

The defense of an accused is not limited to the stage of defense evidence. It begins the very moment the plaintiff/prosecution presents any evidence/ argument/ witness against the accused/defendant.

In any matter whether civil or criminal, the defendant/accused has a right to present his defense to counter the allegations imposed against him. The question which arises in a lot of matters is as to when does this stage of defense of an accused/ defendant begins. Is it after the plaintiff/prosecution has presented their evidences and witnesses, or does it begin the very moment the stage of evidence starts?

The Hon’ble High Court of Madhya Pradesh (Indore Bench) has shed light onto this matter and made the following observations in the case of Suresh Chandra Gupta vs State of MP M.Cr.C. No.5117/2021

“It is basic principle of the trial that accused has to establish his defense by cross examination of the prosecution witness and it cannot be termed that the accused defense shall start only at the stage of defense evidence. By confronting the prosecution witness with evidence and rebutting them by cross examination is the defense of the accused at the stage of prosecution evidence also. For free and fair trial, the trial court is bound to allow the accused to furnish all relevant documents for his defense at any stage.”

The above petition was filed by the petitioners under section 482 of Cr.P.C, being aggrieved by the order passed by the trial court, whereby the application to produce defense evidence of the petitioner was dismissed by the trial court.

Brief Facts

• The petitioner being accused of certain offences filled an application under section 91 of Cr.P.C to produce documents in order to prove his innocence.
• The trial court dismissed the application observing that:

“At this stage, it would not be proper to take all these documents on record. At the time of defence evidence, the accused can produce his documents and examine the defence witness but, at the stage of prosecution witnesses, it would not be justified to take all these

documents on record.”

Arguments submitted by the petitioner

The petitioner contended that the documents requested to be produced were a requisite for defence on which the prosecution witnesses are to be cross examined.

Arguments submitted by Respondent

The respondent prays for the rejection of the petition

Held

The High court allowed the petition and directed the trial court to provide all the reasonable opportunities to the petitioner to defend himself by way of cross-examining the prosecution witnesses.

Reasoning of the High Court

It is basic principle of the trial that accused has to establish his defence by cross examination of the prosecution witness and it cannot be termed that the accused defence shall start only at the stage of defence evidence. By confronting the prosecution witness with evidence and rebutting them by cross examination is the defence of the accused at the stage of prosecution evidence also. For free and fair trial, the trial court is bound to allow the accused to furnish all relevant documents for his defence at any stage

On the basis of the above observations the High court allowed the petition and directed the trial court to provide all the reasonable opportunities to the petitioner to defend himself by way of cross-examining the prosecution witnesses.

Conclusion

The defense of an accused is not limited to the stage of defense evidence. It begins the very moment the plaintiff/prosecution presents any evidence/ argument/ witness against the accused/defendant.

The article has been contributed by Aniket Nighojkar.