State v. Narendra Sharma and others) arising out of Case Crime No
Case Details
Neutral Citation No. - 2025:AHC:60215 Court No. - 70 Case :- APPLICATION U/S 482 No. - 3719 of 2025 Applicant :- Smt. Archana Devi Opposite Party :- State Of U.P. And 2 Others Counsel for Applicant :- Pankaj Kumar Mishra Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A.,Manoj Kumar Srivastava Hon'ble Rajeev Misra,J. 1. Heard Mr. Pankaj Kumar Mishra, the learned counsel for applicant, the learned AGA for State-opposite party-1 and Mr.
Legal Reasoning
Manoj Kumar Srivastava, the learned counsel representing accused-opposite parties 2 & 3. 2. Perused the record. 3. Applicant- Smt. Archana Devi, who is the first informant has approached this Court by means of present application under Section 482 Cr.P.C. with the following prayer: "It is, therefore, Most Respectfully prayed that before this Hon'ble Court may graciously be pleased to allow the present application and quash the impugned judgment and order dated 28.08.2024 passed by Additional Session Judge, Court No.9, District Aligarh, whereby learned court below has rejected the application of 32-B dated 13.08.2024 of the applicant in Session Trial No.23 of 2023 (State Vs. Narendra Sharma and others) arising out of Case Crime No. 160 of 2022, under Section- 302/34 I.P.C., at Police Station- Jawan, District- Aligarh, and direct the learned court below for taking the evidence/information on record, which was received by applicant under the right to Information Act, 2005, as well as, direct the learned court below for taking affidavits of Bhola Shankar and Sanjeev Kumar on records, during the pendency of the trial of Session Trial No. 23 of 2023 (State Vs. Narendra Sharma and others) arising out of Case Crime No. 160 of 2022, under Section- 302/34 I.P.C., Police Station-Jawan, District-at Aligarh, otherwise applicant shall suffer irreparable loss and injury. It is further prayed that this Hon'ble court may graciously be pleased to stay the further proceedings of Session Trial No.23 of 2023 (State Vs. Narendra Sharma and others) arising out of Case Crime No. 160 of 2022, under Section- 302/34 I.P.C., at Police Station- Jawan, District Aligarh, otherwise the applicant shall suffer an irreparable loss and injury which cannot be compensated in any manner whatsoever. And/or to pass such other and further order which this Hon'ble Court may deem fit and proper under the facts and circumstances of the case." 4. Learned counsel for applicant submits that during pendency of above-mentioned Sessions Trial an application dated 13.08.2024 was filed by applicant first informant before court below to accept certain documents on record. This application was registered as paper No.32-B. However, aforementioned application has been rejected by court below by means of order impugned dated 28.08.2024 on the finding that the said application has been filed at the stage of arguments, the matter has already been expedited by the Apex Court, lastly; the documents desired to be kept on record is essentially affidavit which is otherwise not admissible in evidence under the Indian Evidence Act. 5. Thus feeling aggrieved by the above order, applicant has now approached this Court by means of present application under Section 482 Cr.P.C. 6. According to the learned counsel for applicant the order impugned in present application is manifestly illegal and arbitrary. Consequently, the same is liable to be set aside by this Court. In furtherance of aforesaid submission, the learned counsel for applicant submits that since Bhola who has deposed before court below as PW-3 in his deposition had already stated that he had submitted an affidavit before the Superintendent of Police with regard to the conversation that had taken place in between him and deceased, therefore, in case the said affidavit is accepted on record, the same would only determine the true character of deposition of PW-3 Bhola. Consequently the same will help the Court to find out the truth. In view of above, the order impugned cannot be sustained in law and is therefore liable to be quashed by this Court. 7. Per contra, the learned AGA representing State-opposite party-1 and Mr. Manoj Kumar Srivastava, the learned counsel representing accused-opposite parties 2 & 3 have vehementally opposed the present application. They submit that neither during the course of investigation nor at the time of recording of evidence, any reference was made to the documents mentioned in paragraph 2 of the application dated 13.08.2024. Furthermore, there is no averment in the application dated 13.08.2024 with regard to the relevancy of the documents sought to be brought on record. It is thus urged by the learned AGA as well as the learned counsel representing accused-opposite parties 2 & 3 that no doubt that Court is vested with the power to accept additional document even in a criminal trial at a belated stage but the application regarding the same must be bona fide and the documents sought to be brought on record must have a direct link to the issues involved in the trial. 8. Reference at this stage was made to the judgment of the Supreme Court in Varsha Garg Vs. State of M.P. & Ors., 2022 SCC Online SC 986, wherein the Apex Court has observed that the trial before the court below is the trial of an accused and therefore such a trial should be free and fair trial. Furthermore, the ultimate object of the trial is to find out the truth. On the above premise, it is thus contended that the primary test which is to be applied by court with regard to the aforementioned application is whether the documents sought to be brought on record are relevant for deciding the issue involved in the trial and whether the same will help to the Court to unearth the truth. Since no pleadings have been urged in the aforementioned application regarding above, therefore, no illegality can be said to have been committed by court below in rejecting the same. 9. It is further contended by the learned AGA that apart from above, the document mentioned in paragraph 2 of the application dated 13.08.2024 was never referred to at the time of investigation nor submitted before the investigating officer to be made part of the case diary. The trial is at an advance stage and in view of the order of expeditious disposal passed by the Apex Court, no infirmity can be attached to the same. 10. When confronted with above, the learned counsel for applicant could not overcome the same. 11. Having heard the learned counsel for applicant, the learned A.G.A. representing State-opposite party-1, the learned counsel representing accused-opposite party 2 & 3 and upon perusal of record, this Court finds that the objections raised by the learned A.G.A. and the learned counsel representing accused-opposite parties 2 & 3 in opposition to this application are not only borne out from the record, but furthermore the same could not be dislodged by the learned counsel for applicant with reference to record. In view of above, no good ground exists to entertain the present application. 12. As a result, the present application fails and is liable to be dismissed. 13. It is, accordingly, dismissed. Order Date :- 22.4.2025 R.S. Tiwari Digitally signed by :- RAVI SHANKAR TIWARI High Court of Judicature at Allahabad