Magistrate has power to grant permission for further probe of

The Madras High Court has made it clear that a Magistrate has power under Section 173(8) Cr.Pc. to grant permission for further investigation of a case.

The Full Bench comprising Justices S Nagamuthu, P N Prakash and N Authinathan however acquitted one Chinnathambi Subramani, who challenged the Judgment of conviction and life sentence awarded to him by the Principal Sessions Judge, Tiruppur, in connection a murder and theft case.

The judges acquitted him on the ground that the finger prints of the accused were not tallied.

Also refusing the conviction of Subramani on the grounds that he was involved in several other cases, the bench in its recent order said "unfortunately the trial court has referred to previous cases against the accused and convicted. Such procedure denotes fair procedure which in turn demands proof of guilt of the accused beyond reasonable doubts."
 

"In other words, choked with emotion or driven by local sentiments, out of mere surmise or suspicion, a court of law cannot afford to convict the accused."

The matter was referred to the Full Bench as the legal issue raised by the counsel for Subramani with regard to grant of permission by the Magistrate for further investigation after accepting the final report filed earlier by police that the crime could not be deselected as illegal and thus vitiates the conviction of the accused.

The matter was referred to the full Bench because of the conflicting Judgments of a Division Bench of Madras High Court and by a Single Judge to resolve the legal issue.