Legal Provisions of Section 317 of Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (Cr.P.C.), India.
Provision for inquiries and trial being held in the absence of accused in certain cases:
This section lays down the procedure for inquiries and trials being conducted in the absence of accused in certain cases. The section enables the Court to dispense with the personal attendance of the accused and proceed with the inquiry or trial in his absence.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
Similar provision also exists in Section 205 which provides that when a Magistrate issues a summons, he may dispense with the personal attendance of the accused and permit him to appear by a pleader.
The general rule is that all inquiries and trials should be conducted in the presence of the accused. Therefore, this section provides an exception to this general rule.
Sub-Section (2) provides for the case of an accused who is not represented by a pleader but whose continued personal presence or attendance may be necessary. In such a case the Court may either adjourn the trial of all the accused or order the particular absenting accused to be tried separately.
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ADVERTISEMENTS:
In either case, i.e., sub-section (1) or (2) the Court shall record reasons in writing for its decision in this regard.
The observations made by the Kerala High Court in the context of Section 317 deserve pointed attention. The Court held that in all trivial and technical cases not involving moral turpitude, where the accused are ladies, old and sick persons, factory workers, labourers, busy business people and industrialists, the Courts should invariably exempt such persons from personal attendance under this section of the Code. The Courts should see that undue harassment is not caused to the accused appearing before them.
In Baskar Industries Ltd. v. Bhiwani Denim & Apprals Ltd., the Supreme Court held that in certain cases the Magistrate may exempt the accused even from the first personal attendance and permit him to be represented by his Counsel and record the Counsel’s evidence as the evidence given by the accused. Section 317 permits the Magistrate to exempt the accused from personal appearance before the Court provided he is being represented by his defence Counsel and the latter is appearing before the Court on behalf of the accused.