Tanya Gupta
Published on: March 22, 2022, at 20:45 IST
In the case of Settu Vs State of NCT of Delhi, the Delhi High Court observed that the Probative Value of Materials cannot be gone in at the Stage of Framing a Charge and the Material has to be Accepted as True which is Brought on Record by the Prosecution.
Justice Rajnish Bhatnagar stated,
“The Standard of Test and Judgment which is to be finally Applied before Recording a finding regarding the Guilt or otherwise of the Accused is not exactly to be Applied at this Stage of deciding the Matter under Section 227 or under Section 228 of the Code. But at the Initial Stage, if there is a strong suspicion which leads the Court to think that there is ground for Presuming that the Accused has Committed an Offence, then it is not open to the Court to say that there is no sufficient ground for Proceeding against the Accused.”
The Court added that the Presence of Suspicion is to be seen which may lead the Court to presume that the Accused has committed an Offence.
The Court was dealing with a Review Petition challenging the 10.01.2020 order passed by the East Karkardooma Court which charges the Petitioner Under Sections 328, 354B, and 385 of the Indian Penal Code.
In the instant case, the Complainant was made to take a Supari/Toffee which was Laced with some Intoxicant at a Hotel with the intention of Outraging her Modesty.
Thereafter, the Accused allegedly Extorted 2 Lakhs from her by putting her in fear of getting her Video Viral on the Internet.
The Court observed its Power to shift and weigh the Evidence for the limited purpose of finding out if the case is Prima-Facie made against the Accused or not.
The Court noted that the totality of Facts and Circumstances have been observed by the Trial Court while passing the order and it is of the view that veracity of the Statements of the Petitioner can only be tested during Cross-Examination.
Accordingly, the Plea was dismissed while the Impugned Order was upheld.
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